Market Basket employees, while eligible, have not yet filed any complaints with the National Labor Relations Board, Washington, D.C.
An NLRB spokesperson told WHAV News the supermarket employees are engaged in “protected, concerted activity” even though they are not formally a trade union.
“There are no charges in the system,” he said. New management at the 71-store chain recently fired eight workers engaged in an effort to restore ousted CEO Arthur T. Demoulas. Discharged workers include include Tom Trainor, Tom Gordon, Joe Garon, Steve Paulenka, Jim Lacourse, Joe Schmidt, Dean Joyce and Mike Kettenbach.
Market Basket’s new managers said, “Their actions continued to harm the company, negatively impacted customers, and inhibited associates’ ability to perform their jobs.’’
Any employees working in the private sector as a group of two or more may seek relief from the federal agency. “The National Labor Relations Board is an independent federal agency vested with the power to safeguard employees’ rights to organize and to determine whether to have unions as their bargaining representative. The agency also acts to prevent and remedy unfair labor practices committed by private sector employers and unions,” the agency’s website reads.