THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, March 23, 1996               TAG: 9603230425
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY MYLENE MANGALINDAN, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: NORFOLK                            LENGTH: Short :   43 lines

BOYCOTT OF KMART SET OVER ALLEGED PAY BIAS

Members of the African-American community, some black ministers, union members and store employees are planning to picket outside a Kmart store today to protest alleged pay discrimination against minority workers in Greensboro, N.C.

A rally will be held at the Kmart store at 741 Little Creek Road East at 1 p.m., said a spokeswoman from the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees, or UNITE. About 100 people are expected to attend and picket outside the store in Ward's Corner.

``If the Norfolk community is going to be shoppers of Kmart, we feel it's important for them to know what's going on,'' said Hilary Johnson, a UNITE project manager who will attend today's protest in Norfolk.

Members of UNITE and the Pulpit Forum, Greensboro's African-American ministerial alliance, drew attention to the pay discrepancy of minority workers at the Kmart distribution center in Greensboro by holding a series of protests starting in December 1995.

Union representatives say Greensboro is the only Kmart distribution center with a predominantly black work force and as a result, pays substantially lower wages. The predominantly white work forces at other Kmart distribution centers earn at least $4 per hour more than Greensboro workers, UNITE members claim.

Company officials say the union has no grounds for its claims.

``The company does not discriminate against its employees in Greensboro or anywhere else,'' said Mary Lorencz, a spokeswoman for Kmart Corp.

Kmart and the union are in the process of negotiating a collective bargaining agreement, Johnson said.

The Hampton Roads market will be one of seven or more areas involved in a planned national boycott of Kmart stores. Other protests are planned in Memphis, Greensboro, Atlanta, Houston, Cleveland and Chicago.

From 2,000 to 3,000 are expected to turn out nationwide for the boycott. by CNB