Supermarket union pickets outside C-Town BY KAREN E. BOWES Staff Writer MIKE ACKER A pair of union workers protest outside the C-Town supermarket in downtown Matawan on Saturday morning. MATAWAN - The picketers outside C-Town have no plans of leaving any time soon. Members of Local 464A of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) began picketing the new supermarket about two weeks ago. According to Union President John Niccollai, the picketers are at the Main Street site "to let the customers know they're shopping in a nonunion store." Niccollai said the protestors would remain until the union feels its message has been heard. "There's no time limit," Niccollai said. "We've had other pickets go on for five or six years. We're like the proverbial pit bull." Niccollai said the C-Town picket is an informational drive, not an organizational drive. The union is not trying to start up a new chapter at the site but simply inform passers-by and other prospective shoppers of its presence. "And then they can make a value judgment," Niccollai said." But C-Town manager Jose Gonzalez said the supermarket simply cannot afford to join the union. The manager noted that the store has only been open for about two months. "Before we opened up, they came in and they told us they'd like the store to be union," Gonzalez said on Monday. "We heard what they had to say." He added, "But we cannot afford to join the union. We'd have to close the store. … If the store doesn't do the numbers we'd like the store to do, we can't afford to join the union." Gonzalez said the union was not willing to negotiate, telling store officials "you're either in or you're not." Currently about five or six people work each shift, the manager reported. Most of the employees are family members of the owner, he added. Niccollai sees it differently, saying workers deserve medical benefits and sick time. With the union, "you get much more higher wages, pension plan, full medical coverage, you get holidays, you get sick days, you get personal days, you get time and a half for holidays and Sundays. You get a guaranteed 40-hour workweek. You don't have split shifts." Gonzalez said his store would consider joining the union after it establishes itself in the neighborhood. "Give us some time," Gonzalez said. "We're struggling as it is."