Oakland Tribune: Initiative signature gatherers' war with Safeway stores

Signature gatherers and Safeway are at war

By Josh Richman
Oakland Tribune

Posted: 08/10/2011 04:18:42 PM PDT

 

A war is heating up between Safeway and paid petition signature gatherers who congregate outside the grocery stores.

Safeway says the signature gatherers don't abide by their corporate policies, block entrances and harass customers, and so has started a crackdown that, in some instances, includes seeking court injunctions against the worst offenders.

Signature gatherers counter that Safeway is disrupting their free-speech rights. About two dozen political petition signature gatherers protested the crackdown Wednesday outside Safeway's corporate headquarters in Pleasanton.

"Safeway's unconstitutional policies specifically target the rights of citizens to lawfully collect signatures to qualify ballot measures," their news release said. "Recently, Safeway managers have been harassing, photographing and threatening signature gatherers with restraining orders, denying their right to participate in California's direct democracy."

Safeway spokeswoman Susan Houghton called that "quite hilarious." Managers have taken photos, she acknowledged, to demonstrate to courts how paid signature gatherers are disrupting stores' entrances and exits. "We're taking a pretty aggressive stance: We're actually filing injunctions against some of these individuals, because our customers are just fed up with it."

Houghton said many signature gatherers have refused to comply with Safeway's "time, place and manner" policy, which requires solicitors of  any kind to check with store managers in advance and fill out a form with contacts and other information. Now the company will come down harder, and possibly take to court, any group or individual that refuses, she said.


As an example, she provided a photo taken last month at a Palo Alto supermarket, where petition signature gatherers set up a table and canopy partially blocking a store entrance -- a safety hazard for customers, Houghton said.

"We want to be community-minded ... but what has happened is that it has become an industry, it has become a business, these are professional people paid to gather signatures and, quite frankly, harass our customers," she said.

Rick Fenton, an organizer of Wednesday's protest, said petition signature gatherers are independent businesses or subcontractors who've "had enough."

"Safeway's rules have gotten to the point that they're not just restricting time, place and manner anymore," he said. "It's clearly designed to say, 'Hey, go find someplace else to circulate.' "