Economy

San Diego Labor Leader Steps Down From Democratic Committee Amid Sexual Harassment Lawsuit

By Christopher Underwood / Web Producer, KPBS News

Published December 20, 2017 at 12:44 PM PST

This story was published more than 6 years ago.

Mickey Kasparian, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 135, at election night party for mayoral candidate David Alvarez at Public Market, 1735 National Ave., February 11, 2014.

UPDATE: 4:10 P.M., Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2017

San Diego labor leader Mickey Kasparian is resigning from the San Diego Democratic Central Committee, one week after a new lawsuit was filed accusing him of sexual assault.

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Kasparian, who is the president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 135, submitted his resignation in an email sent to Jessica Hayes, the committee chair.

Jessica,

I hope your trip went well. I want to start out by apologizing for my limited participation with Dem Party Central Committee during 2017.,(sic) We had an extremely busy year at UFCW Local 135, which included negotiating two major contracts with CVS and Food 4 Less, both taking more than five months from start to finish. 2018 at the UFCW will be even more challenging. We have four major contracts that are expiring during the year, with Rite Aid, Kaiser, Viejas Casino, and Spreckles Sugar. I will be negotiating all four of these contracts. While I have always been involved with other community groups and organizations, as you and I have discussed for months, my number one priority and dedication is to represent our 13,000 UFCW Local 135 members. Knowing that I will not have the time to be an active participant at Central Committee, I think it's only fair that Member Lori Kern selects another alternate to replace me. You can feel free to remove my name from the alternate list. Of course, it goes without saying that our Union will continue to assist the party in whatever you need, so we can elect good Democrats and move the progressive agenda forward.

Thank You,

Mickey

Earlier this year, Mickey Kasparian was removed from his position as president of the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council by the president of the national AFL-CIO. That followed a sexual harassment lawsuit, two discrimination lawsuits and months of infighting among labor leaders and Democratic officials.

The latest lawsuit was filed by a 31-year-old county government employee who accuses Kasparian of pinning her down on a sofa and groping her.

Kasparian denied the new allegations in a statement to The San Diego Union-Tribune.

“Let me be crystal clear, without any equivocation whatsoever — all of these accusations are categorically and completely false,” he wrote.

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Kasparian is still the head of UFCW Local 135 and president of the San Diego Working Families Council.

This is a developing story. Updates will be made as new information becomes available.