About 50 protestors, led by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union local 21, picketed Rite Aid drug stores in Kelso and Longview on Friday afternoon, blasting the company’s actions at a California distribution center and calling for the passage of a federal law to strengthen union rights.

The ILWU says Rite Aid refused to recognize the union during bargaining last year in Lancaster, Calif., after employees voted to join the ILWU.

“What we want the company to know is they need to stop stalling in Lancaster,” said Mary Winzig, organizer for the ILWU’s Columbia River district, outside the Kelso Rite Aid.

The Kelso and Longview Rite Aid stores are non-union. About 30 percent of Rite Aid associates nationwide are union members, company spokeswoman Cheryl Slavinsky said

Rite Aid has bargained in good faith, but the union is demanding “exorbitant” wage increases in Lancaster and nearly free health care, which the company can’t afford, she said.

“Our wages currently are very competitive, and we offer our associates a good health plan, which is the same health plan that covers many of our other union associates,” Slavinsky said in a statement.

Protestors converged on 14 Rite Aid drugstores Friday in California, Oregon, Washington and the company’s headquarters in Harrisburg, Penn. Many held signs in support of the Employee Free Choice Act, which labor leaders say will protect workers from retaliation while organizing unions.

“It gives the workers the right to decide for themselves if they want a union or not,” said Dan Coffman, president of the Longview-based ILWU local 21.

The legislation, which is supported by President Obama, has encountered vigorous opposition from business groups. The bill’s defeat is the top goal of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and newly appointed U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis’ approval was nearly blocked in Congress because of her support for the measure.

Employers argue the legislation actually harms workers because it takes away their right to vote by secret ballot. “We believe that our associates have the right to choose to be represented or not represented by a union. We just think that it’s fair for them to vote by secret ballot, just as all of us vote by secret ballot for the elected officials who represent us,” Slavinsky said.