Bashas Uses Citizen’s Arrest to Break up Labor Organizing

(May
21, 2006 Phoenix, AZ) Two women were arrested Sunday morning as part of
the Bashas corporation ongoing effort to silence worker concern over
unprecedented increases in health insurance premiums.

The two women, Sarah Gresoski, 23, and Teresa D¹Asaro, 39, both members of
the United Food and Commercial Workers union, were meeting with
employees at the Basha-owned A.J.s at Uptown Plaza in Phoenix. Such
meetings are allowed and protected under federal law.

The A.J.¹s store manager made a "citizens arrest" of the two women
apparently after consultation with unnamed company officials. Phoenix
Police Officers then were called to take the women into custody and
charged them with "criminal trespassing.

Following the arrests upwards of 60 employees and union members launched a picket
line in front of the A.J.s store chanting slogans like "Eddie keep your
promise, your workers deserve better" and "Eddie, Eddie you can¹t hide
you just showed your greedy side.

For the past three days UFCW members have been meeting with employees at
Bashas-owned stores across the Valley including Bashas, A.J.s, and
FoodCity.

While Bashas has a history of labor problems, most notably at FoodCity, the
health insurance issue is companywide affecting virtually all of Bashas
10,000 employees.

On June 1st, workers at Bashas-owned stores are being hit with dramatic
cost increases in their health insurance premiums and forces them well
below the industry standard.

Last year Bashas trailed only Wal-Mart and McDonald¹s in taxpayer funded
health insurance "subsidies" paid by the State of Arizona. An estimated
5-percent of Bashas employees were forced to turn to public assistance
for health care according to published reports in 2005.

By loading more of the health care burden on already strained households,
Bashas is only going to be sending more and more of employees to
Arizona¹s taxpayers for their health care," said UFCW Local 99
President James McLaughlin.