Carpenters Local 405 sent a handful of protesters to the front of Seagate Technology on Scotts Valley Drive Monday morning to protest an alleged use of non-union workers in Cupertino.
No one from the union would comment on the situation at the site of the protests and union representatives did not return a call Monday morning.
However, picketers handed out fliers stating that Seagate hired San Jose-based TICO Construction, Inc. to work in its new Cupertino facility without requiring all of TICO’s subcontractors to be paid wages and benefits established by carpenters in the area on TICO jobs for other customers.
Seagate, however, disputes the claim.
“For the Cupertino site we have union workers, including 405,” said Seagate director of communications Brian Ziel. He did not speculate on why they chose to picket in Scotts Valley.
Seagate is in the process of moving its Scotts Valley headquarters to Cupertino to combine with sales teams from Sunnyvale and Santa Clara in a centralized location. A small contingent of the company’s Scotts Valley employees will remain in the city. The move is scheduled to be completed in May or June, Ziel said.
TICO is retrofitting the Cupertino site to suit Seagate’s needs, Ziel said.
The picketing was a spectacle on Scotts Valley Drive. A large Halloween-like skull standing more than 15 feet tall had passersby’s looking in Seagate’s direction as they drove past its corporate offices in Scotts Valley on Monday morning.
The union handout named Seagate CEO Stephen Lucjo as the person to contact and to tell him to pay standard wages and benefits
At the bottom of the handout read a statement: “We do not seek recognition nor are we asking anyone to stop working, stop deliveries or cease doing business with any employer. This is not a dispute with any other employer.”
Carpenter’s Local 405 is based in Santa Clara and San Benito counties according to its Web site.
