An administrative law judge for the National Labor Relations Board ruled that Bashas’ supermarkets must recognize and bargain with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 99 at eight of its 161 stores but stopped short of requiring the company to rescind any of the actions it took that prompted the union to file its lawsuit.

The ruling, issued Oct. 16 by William G. Kocol, applies to two stores in the Tucson area, Food City, 3923 N. Flowing Wells Road, and Ike’s Farmers’ Market, 13005 N. Oracle Road, Oro Valley. Except for the stores involved in the lawsuit, Bashas’ stores are not unionized. The Chandler-based company is the state’s largest grocer operating stores with the names Bashas’, Food City, A.J.’s Fine Foods, Bashas’ Diné, Ike’s Farmers’ Market, and Eddie’s Country Store.

"We’ll abide by the ruling. We have no problem sitting down with the union," said Mike Proulx, president and chief operating officer.

He said the company had bargained with union representatives dating back to 1993 when the company bought several stores, including the one on Flowing Wells Road, from Arizona Supermarkets Inc., which had a labor union agreement.

But Proulx said union officials’ interest waned and they had stopped coming to the stores to collect union dues from employees.

"I didn’t hear a peep from them," he said, until the company changed its employee health insurance program, effective June 1, 2006. That’s when Bashas’ gave employees an option of healthcare plans: either continue under the same plan but pay part of the premium or switch to another plan for which the company would continue to pay the entire premium.

The judge dismissed the union’s complaint on the health insurance issue, allowing Bashas’ to continue offering the revised health plan.

Proulx says Bashas’ also feels it won victories by being allowed to maintain other changes it has put in place. One of those involved closing the Oro Valley store, a former ABCO Foods store it bought in 2001, that has since been reopened by Bashas’ as a prototype Ike’s Farmers’ Market, specializing in organic foods.

Another issue concerned Bashas’ installation of self-service check-outs at a union store in Yuma. The judge’s said Bashas’ didn’t unfairly target a union store because it has installed the same system in other stores though it must bargain with the union about them.

"We applaud the judge’s decision," said Jim McLaughlin, president of UFCW Local 99, in a statement. "It is an affirmation of our longstanding position that Bashas’ Inc. employees at these stores are represented by UFCW."