Things are just getting messier and messier in the Market Basket controversy.

In June, Market Basket, a supermarket chain with stores in New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts, ousted a CEO who was known for paying workers fairly and keeping prices low. The decision sparked rage among workers, who feel that the company is trying to ditch the former CEO’s worker-friendly policies to improve shareholder bottom lines.

In fact, Market Basket employees have been so upset about the ouster that they have been picketing the company’s warehouses. Based on an Associated Press report, Market Basket has threatened to fire all of these workers and replace them if they don’t get to work by Friday of last week, and things got even dicier when a Market Basket driver actively threatened the protesters.

Indeed, according to an article in the Christian Science Monitor, a tractor-trailer driver arriving at a Market Basket warehouse where workers were picketing got out of his vehicle and shook a hammer at protesters in threatening fashion. The driver was arrested, and Market Basket later issued a statement condemning his behavior and announcing that both he and the company he had been contracted through had been fired.

However, there is a good chance that such an announcement will only add fuel to the fire for angry Market Basket employees, who have reportedly not shown up for work since July 17. The protesters are calling for the reinstatement of Arthur T. Demoulas, the CEO who was removed from duty by a corporate board controlled by his own cousin. Demoulas is supposedly negotiating to purchase the Market Basket company, which is a family-owned operation. However, for now, the company remains controlled by the board, which by all accounts is much more worried about shareholder interests than employee ones.

Previously, Market Basket said that any employees not back to work on August 4 would be fired. The date was then moved to Friday, August 15. However, Friday also brought about the incident with the driver threatening protesters, and Market Basket would likely face the fiercest of all PR backlashes if it cut loose all of those employees now.

Market Basket is already facing customer boycotts across its chain, and the fact that supply and distribution workers are striking has even left many stores without items like meat and produce.