Two Women Ordered Arrested By Bashas

Two women were arrested this morning as part of the Bashas Corporation ongoing effort to silence worker concern over unprecedented increases in health insurance premiums. The 2 women, Sarah Gresoski, 23, & Teresa D'Asaro, 39, are both members of the United Food & Commercial Workers union, & were meeting with employees at the Basha-owned A.J.'s at Uptown Plaza in Phoenix. These meetings are allowed & protected under federal law. The A.J.'s store manager decided to make a "citizens arrest" of the 2 women, after apparently consultating with unnamed company official(s). The Phoenix Police Officers that were called to take the women into custody, have charged them with "criminal trespassing." After these arrests upwards of 60 employees & 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" & "Eddie, Eddie you can't hide you just showed your greedy side." For the past 3 days UFCW members have been meeting with employees at Bashas-owned stores across the Valley including Bashas, A.J.'s, & FoodCity. Bashas has a history of labor problems, most notably at FoodCity, the health insurance issue is company wide affecting nearly 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 & forces them well below the industry standard. Last year Bashas used taxpayer funds to fund its health insurance from "subsidies" paid by the State of Arizona. An estimated 5% of Bashas employees have been forced to turn to public assistance for health care according to published reports in 2005.