Arizona Superior Court Judge Grants Bashas' Permission to Add Two More Charges to...

Arizona Superior Court Judge Grants Bashas' Permission to Add Two More Charges
to Its Racketeering Lawsuit

PHOENIX, July 9 /PRNewswire/ -- An Arizona Superior Court Judge recently
granted Bashas' permission to amend its racketeering lawsuit against the
United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union.

Bashas' racketeering lawsuit, originally filed Dec. 18, 2007, will now also
include the following charges:

-- In a meeting with Bashas', the UFCW boasted that it had destroyed
Mega Foods and Southwest Supermarkets. The UFCW threatened to also
"destroy" Bashas' by spreading false information to the
general public and planting expired product on the shelves of its
stores
if Bashas' management team did not sign a contract allowing the
UFCW to represent all of its employees. The union's threat to
destroy Bashas' included the destruction of a handful of stores
represented by the UFCW that Bashas' purchased years ago. (Actions
like these are in violation of Arizona's criminal offense of
extortion.)
-- The UFCW conducted similar destructive campaigns directed at other
companies, including Farmer Joe's, Mega Foods, Southwest
Supermarkets and Smithfield.

Overall, the judge ruled that the UFCW cannot use a confidentiality agreement
to hide union threats that amount to extortion. The judge also ruled that
Bashas' can pursue claims that the UFCW used similar tactics in attacking and
destroying other grocers in Arizona and elsewhere.

"This is the type of '30s-style, labor leader misbehavior that gives unions a
bad reputation," said Mike Manning of Stinson, Morrison Hecker, the law firm
representing Bashas' in its racketeering lawsuit. "The union's behavior here
in Arizona is both damaging to Bashas' and the labor movement."

Bashas' racketeering lawsuit continues to move forward and is expected to go
to trial in 2010.

"We look forward to our day in court when we can clear our good name and
defend our 12,000 plus workforce," said Mike Proulx, Bashas' president and
chief operating officer.

Bashas' filed a racketeering/defamation lawsuit against the UFCW in December
2007 for a number of reasons: conducting defamatory phone surveys; attempting
to create a phony health scare about Bashas' products; distributing misleading
flyers, door hangers and direct mail pieces; crafting, distributing and
publicizing inflammatory and false reports; calling in false reports to
governmental agencies alleging health code and other violations; organizing
public demonstrations both inside and outside of stores, with the goal of
disrupting and discouraging business; showing up uninvited to homes of Bashas'
employees; arranging "town-hall-style" meetings to encourage a destructive
boycott of Bashas'; paying for automated, pre-recorded phone and text
messages that disparage Bashas' and Food City stores; paying a prominent and
recognizable media outlet to defame Bashas'; stealthily funding vocal
community activists to serve as spokespersons against Bashas'; and making
personal home visits to encourage shoppers to boycott Bashas' and Food City
stores.

Bashas' was founded more than 77 years ago by brothers Ike and Eddie Basha,
Sr. Since then, it has become the largest family-owned grocer in Arizona, and
the 12th largest employer in the state. Bashas' is the 15th-largest privately
held supermarket chain in the nation. Bashas' owns and operates more than 150
stores in Arizona, California and New Mexico. Since the company's inception in
1932, it has given back more than $100 million to the communities it serves.
For more information, visit www.bashas.com or www.bashastogether.com.

SOURCE Bashas'

Kristy Nied of Bashas' Family of Stores, mobile, +1-480-201-2030,
knied@bashas.com