i don’t know how accurate or biased this story is
i don’t know how accurate or biased this story is
It's on the level. The employees love Arthur T.
I've heard the sentiments cited in the story echoed in calls to the Howie Carr show. And I've even spoken with a few employees myself. The stores are festooned with signs like the one shown in the article.
It is very accurate. Market Basket, I believe, is the largest privately owned grocery store chain in the country. They are a low cost store. Their prices rival Costco and Wal-Mart. They are non union. The thing that the long time employees are fighting for is their PROFIT SHARING. Most employees that have been with the company for 25 years or more are millionaires because of the profit sharing. They are worried the new ownership will sell the company or get rid of the profit sharing and install a 401K program like most other companies have. This strike is the first of its kind. If successful, people will be talking about it in business classes for years to come.
I do all my shopping there. I have not been in a store since it started. I hope they are successful and do not get bought out.
They are not asking for higher wages. Nor are they asking for additional benefits. All they want is their CEO back and to keep what they already have.
Also, believe it or not, Market Basket has a profit sharing plan that cascades even down to the lowliest employees. Yes, the part-time teenagers bagging your groceries and shagging cars in the parking lot qualified for and received profit-sharing bonuses.
How could they do all that and keep their costs down? Well they had the most loyal workforce in the supermarket industry. Unlike most supermarket chains that are staffed with minimum wage losers who are only good at shrugging their shoulders, banging in sick and saying "not my job", employees went to Market Basket to have a career. Most of their store managers started off as baggers and cashiers. Even much of the front end staff have years of experience and are genuinely happy to work there. Their name badges state how many years they have been on the job and a good many of them have 10 years or more. So what that means is that Market Basket had professional people at virtually every position which allowed them to do more with less employees - thus keeping the costs to the consumer down.
So not your average labor dispute but a good example of capitalism at work. The feuding owners of this supermarket chain were sitting on a gold mine and they are allowing it to slip away in order that they can "sock it to" those who have disrespected them.
Most likely at this point, Market Basket gets sold off to some big chain and they turn into just another faceless supermarket conglomerate like Stop And Shop or Kroger.