By CLAYTON PARK

Drivers who whiz along Lake City Way might be wondering why people have been standing on the sidewalk in front of the Don Willis Furniture store holding banners that read: "Sweatshop Furniture Sold at THIS STORE; Labor Dispute."

Well, if you're thinking that it's a strike, you'd be wrong.

Kevin Ervin, one of the banner holders, explained that he was hired by the AFL-CIO, Local 537, to urge passersby to boycott Don Willis Furniture because one of the furniture lines the store is carrying is made by Quality Craft, a San Diego company where workers are reportedly involved in a labor dispute over poor working conditions.

Ervin added that neither he nor his roommate, who was holding the other end of the banner, are union members. "We're doing it for the money," he said.

While Quality Craft's workers in California are not on strike, the carpenters' union in Washington state is urging customers to boycott stores that carry that company's products.

Andrew Gocus of the Pacific Northwest District Council of Carpenters, one of the organizers of the effort to boycott Don Wills, explained: "This is not a picket, it's a boycott. We're asking Don Willis to drop their line (of Quality Craft furniture) until this gets resolved."

Inside the store, a Don Willis employee expressed disbelief as to the protestors' logic in singling out his store: "They're protesting one out of the 200 manufacturers we carry!"

Paul Willis, owner of Don Willis, echoed his employee's comments. He said his understanding is that the situation between Quality Craft and its workers is being negotiated. "People won't go on strike at the union (in California), so they're going to the retailers. Since we're one of (Quality Craft's) bigger accounts in Seattle, they're going to us instead of other stores."

At this time, Willis has no plans to drop the Quality Craft line, even though his store really doesn't carry that much of it in the first place.