He twists tales at Food Lion.

• Position: Free lance publicist Neel Lattimore publicizes Food Commercial Workers International Union's case against Food Lion Inc. - People - Brief Article

Everybody likes a chance to sound off about a slave-driving boss, especially when there's a PR rep lining up the news media to discuss your grievances.

So on Sept. 10, Neel Lattimore set up shop in a Charlotte hotel room, sent out a press release bashing Salisbury-based Food Lion, and waited for the onslaught of calls the next day. "It started at 10 a.m. and didn't end until 10 p.m.," he says. "I talked to over a hundred people," mostly reporters.

On Sept. 11, the Food and Commercial Workers union - even though it doesn't represent Food Lion's workers - filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor contending that the supermarket chain forced employees to work overtime without pay. Lattimore's job was to get the union's story to reporters and get them on the phone with disgruntled former Food Lion employees.

Lattimore, 31, packed his bags two days later and headed back to Washington, where he is a free-lance publicist. The union hired him shortly after it filed a class-action suit against Food Lion in March 1990, alleging the supermarket chain schemed to fire workers before they became eligible for full profit-sharing and health benefits.

"I spend seven to 10 days a month just traveling around and talking to people, hearing their stories," he says. For a monthly fee that he won't disclose, Lattimore regularly calls reporters and editors, trying to publicize the union's allegations. And they're getting attention. Business Week, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, among...