Protestors picket Bashas’ on César Chávez Day

An ongoing dispute between the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 99 and Bashas' attracted more than 100 protesters at the grocery chain's warehouse in Chandler on Monday.

VIDEO: Protesters picket at Basha's in Chandler Monday

The demonstration was tied to Cesar Chavez Day, a statewide celebration honoring the late Yuma native who formed the United Farm Workers Union.

"My grandfather would be proud of this movement," said Alejandro Chavez, 30, a protester and the grandson of the UFW founder.

Demonstrators, including members of the East Valley NAACP and Somos America, a Hispanic organization, carried signs reading "Hungry for Respect," "Workers United Will Never Be Divided" and "No Harassment."

Among other issues, the union says Bashas' is disregarding worker concerns about safety and health.

Protesters recited the phrase commonly used by Chavez and the UFW: "S�e Puede," or "Yes We Can."

Kristy Nied, communications director for Bashas', called the two-hour gathering another example of the UFCW's attempt to organize all of the chain's 13,000 employees.

"This is also another example by the UFCW to discredit our company," Nied said.

The demonstration was confined to about 100 feet along the south side of the Bashas' Distribution Center. 200 S. 56th St., after the company parked two semi-tractor trailers along the curb, thus limiting the gathering space, according to an employee.

In a letter by the UFCW to Mike Proulx, CEO of Bashas', and distributed at the gathering, the union demanded the company, Arizona's largest family-owned grocer formed in 1932 with more than 150 locations, to "stop violating workers' rights."

It also called for the reinstatement of 29 workers in the baler operations at the distribution center who, the union contends, lost their jobs when the company outsourced the unloading of trailers.The union also demanded that the company allow workers to form a health and safety committee.

One of the former employees, Robert Smith, 38, of Mesa, said he was laid off after he tried to form a safety committee.

Last August, workers at the distribution center, including Smith, circulated a petition asking for improved workplace safety measures.The petition, which is being challenged by Bashas' in federal court, contends the company had an injury rate of more than twice the national average for the warehouse and storage industry in 2006.

A.C. Span, 40, of Mesa, another laid-off Bashas' employee at the demonstration, said his job was outsourced after he complained about working conditions.

"Every time I spoke out, I was intimidated," said Span."Twenty percent of the employees who signed the petition to establish a committee to deal with health and safety issues, rather than discuss them with employees individually, were outsourced, including me."

Nied said hiring a private company to handle unloading at the distribution center had been under consideration for some time before it was completed last January.The change affected less than 1 percent of the employees at the center, the spokesman said.