NLRB complaint filed over Bashas' benefits

According to the complaint issued Thursday, United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 99 requested in May that Bashas' enter collective bargaining with the union about changes to the health-benefits program. But the company "failed and refused" to bargain and changed its benefits plan in June, according to the complaint.

Statewide, Bashas' operates about 158 stores, including Bashas', Food City and A.J.'s Fine Foods, and employs about 14,500 workers.

The UFCW has been unsuccessful in various efforts to organize workers at Bashas' markets. But Bashas bought seven stores from Arizona Supermarkets Inc. in 1993 — formerly the Bayless chain — and another two stores in 2001 from ABCO markets, inheriting the workers and, according to the complaint, the union representation of those employees.

The union says changes in health benefits were implemented in June without negotiating with the union; the chain subsequently withdrew its recognition of the UFCW as bargaining agent for the workers.

According to a complaint the union filed with the NLRB in June, Bashas' promised its non-unionized employees that they would receive the same no-cost health insurance package through 2008 that the UFCW negotiated for its members at Safeway and Fry's markets. That complaint was dismissed.

The chain filed its own lawsuit against the union in Maricopa County Superior Court in June, alleging that union organizers accosted Bashas' employees. That lawsuit was dropped in September after an out-of-court settlement that was not made public.

Bashas' has more than 2,000 full-time-equivalent jobs in Southern Arizona, making it one of the top 10 private employers in the region. The union represents just under 1,000 workers in non-managerial jobs at Bashas' stores statewide. The union declined to say how many are union members.

Bashas' spokeswoman Mary Jo West said the company has prevailed over the union in previous claims made to the board. Most employees appreciate "the competitive wage and benefit package that they have," she said in a prepared statement.

"This is another attempt by the union to force us to deal with them against the wishes of our employees," West said.

West said all Bashas' employees still can obtain health coverage without cost.

She would not discuss the change in the benefit package. But Mike Proulx, president and chief operating officer of the chain, said in June that workers have the option of buying greater coverage for between $10 and $30 a week.

The union received calls from concerned employees about what the changes meant for them, said Jim McLaughlin, union president. Sometimes it meant paying hundreds of dollars more a month to continue their health insurance, he said. The changes also made it more difficult for some employees to qualify for health-care coverage, he said.

"We thought it was something they should at least bargain over," McLaughlin said. "They at least had the obligation to sit down and talk with us."

The union has formed picket lines at Phoenix-area stores in the past year.

After the company refused to talk with the union about the benefits changes, the union filed charges of unfair labor practices with the National Labor Relations Board in October.

In the complaint issued Thursday, the board says the benefits package is "a mandatory subject" for bargaining. The company "has been failing and refusing to bargain collectively and in good faith with the exclusive collective-bargaining representative of its employees," according to the complaint.

The board is asking Bashas' to restore its old benefit plan and pay back workers who have paid more than their old plan required. The company must answer by Jan. 11. A formal hearing before an administrative law judge is scheduled for Feb. 15 in Phoenix, where both sides will be allowed to discuss the allegations in the complaint.

UFCW Local 99 is Arizona's largest private-sector labor union, representing more than 17,000 people, including workers at Fry's and Safeway grocery stores.