Webvan angers unions

"The company is trying to basically prohibit people from getting together on their own time," said Chuck Mac, western region vice president for Teamsters International, one of the unions involved in the dispute. "They're not letting workers e-mail each other and talk about the union and workplace matters. We think this is a violation of the law and labor laws."

Webvan officials deny all the union charges, and say that they have a policy of open communication between workers and management where they can bring their complaints.

"We believe that all those accusations are unfounded and we believe that the way they have been characterized is egregious misleading and only an attempt to stir discontent and confusion among the workforce," said Bud Grebey, spokesperson for Webvan.

For about a year United Food and Commercial Workers Locals 120 and 870 and Teamsters Local 70 have been trying to organize about 300 drivers and warehouse workers based out of the company's Oakland warehouse. According to union organizers, workers there have become increasing unhappy about their unstable work schedules, which often conflict with family life, and increases in their medical insurance co-payments.

Many of the workers came from secure long-term pension plans at other companies to accept lower wages and fewer benefits at Webvan under the lure that company stock options would make them rich, said Rich Hedges, a spokesperson for UFCW.

"They gave up accruing that and many of them were thinking that this was the chance to hit and mark the dream," Hedges said.

But Webvan's stock has dropped dramatically in its two years in business -- from about $25 per share in mid-1999 to its current price of 47 cents per share.

Unhappiness over their current working conditions is likely pushing many workers to fill out the union registration cards handed to them as they walk out of work each day. Union leaders say that workers have complained that the company is refusing to let them organize during lunch breaks and time off during their work day, and has restricted their e-mail usage to business-related work only.

Hedges said that he is also hearing that some experienced workers feel pressured to leave so that the company can replace them with lower-skilled workers at lower pay.

Grebey said that he believes the union is putting out false information to the public because they can't secure enough worker support.

"It appears that they're frustrated with their ability to gather interest to organize employees. They've gone to the media in order to garner mistrust and misunderstanding," he said.

The unions say that they sent Webvan officials a letter outlining worker complaints in early January -- the lack of response resulted in their decision to file with the labor board, which will review the case and decide whether there is a violation of labor laws. If the board finds merit to the complaints, it has the authority to require Webvan to change its practices.

Mac said that the unions are slowly breaking into the high tech industry, which has remained non-unionized since its inception.

"It's this kind of high-flying, no-limit kind of viewpoint that's developed around this industry. A lot of people have made a lot of money and there have been a lot of rules and standards. ... It looks like as it comes back down to earth and becomes more mature the workers are looking to be able to provide some voice and have a shield to some of the indiscriminate and arbitrary changes in management," he said.

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