Posted on 07/21/2014 2:53:20 PM PDT by matt04
A big local story from this weekend was centered around Market Basket and its employees’ ongoing movement to re-install former CEO Arthur T. Demoulas.
...
Why are employees protesting, anyway?
OK, the long answer goes back decades. In the very short-term, Market Basket employees are extremely loyal to the former CEO, Demoulas, who was fired last month and replaced with Jim Gooch and Felicia Thornton. Two other executives were fired at the time, and seven more resigned the next day.
A couple weeks back, employees outright demanded Demoulas be re-instated as CEO. When they didn’t hear an answer by the middle of last week, they issued an ultimatum to the board, saying they needed an answer by 4:30 p.m. Thursday. When they received an answer saying some employees would get a chance to meet with the board in a meeting this week, they said that wasn’t good enough and organized Friday’s rally, which drew more than 2,500 employees and supporters.
Why the loyalty?
Employees at Market Basket receive very strong benefits, including participation in a profit sharing program. They are worried that new leadership wants to operate the company in a way that stresses profits—Market Basket is already profitable, and does billions of dollars in revenue. This could, theoretically, threaten their livelihood. Employees also worry new leadership aims to sell the company; Thornton’s expertise historically has been in mergers and acquisitions. They say they are fighting for the preservation of the company. Moreover, they say it’s also about Demoulas himself, whom they hold in extremely high regard.
It is indeed unusual that management and rank-and-file employees would be participating in a movement together in support of an ousted executive, which might be one reason why employees have resisted the idea of unionizing.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Some pictures posted on twitter form the stores
http://www.boston.com/business/news/2014/07/20/market-basket-meltdown-continues-company-fires-employees-shelves-empty-and-customers-tweet-all/pzhvCZAbxk6HUI137mCFnK/story.html
This is a 'sneak preview' of what's coming...produce was GONE in no time.
Publix ought to open up there and show them how its done.
Let the Yankees starve now and freeze this winter.
Isn’t Demoulas like about 135 years old?
So, the employees think that they own the joint?
I got news for them, they don’t.
If I owned it, anyone who refused to do his/her job would be fired. Period. No matter what. There’s plenty of people who will be happy do those jobs with no guff or BS about “how it used to be” or any other rubbish.
All you need to know about this idiotic story is summed up in these four sentences from the article:
“Seventeen state lawmakers signed a letter on Saturday calling for a boycott of Market Basket and expressing support for employees. The number of politicians to have signed that letter has since grown. Attorney General and candidate for governor Martha Coakley issued a statement Sunday calling employees’ actions “inspiring.” Likely Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker, as well as New Hampshire Senator Jean Shaheen, and New Hampshire Senate hopeful Scott Brown, who formerly represented Massachusetts, have all also offered support to employees.”
17 Democrats, Democrat Coakley, squish-R Baker, Democrat Shaheen, squish-R Brown.
None of them seem to give two hoots about property rights. What a surprise. Which goes a long way toward explaining why Taxachusetts is as screwed up as it is.
Next thing you know, the state of MA will buy it, rename it “Shaheen’s,” rehire all the self-entitled slobs and hacks who were fired in the interest of “fairness,” unionize it, add 3 new layers of management and be in bankruptcy a few years hence.
I’d just like to explain this a little. I have some perspective as I worked for Demoulas when I was in high school and have shopped there since.
My first job was with Shop’n’Save. Shop’n’save was a savvy food store with sharp managers and a transient work force. They hired college kids to manage their stores and high school kids to run their stores.
My second job was at the Demoulas store in Seabrook New Hampshire. It was night and day. The manager was an old man named Vincent Clancy. All the managers were people who had started as baggers. That’s how it worked. If you were good at sacking groceries, you got to stock shelves. If you were good at stocking shelves, they made you a ‘full timer’ when you graduated — more money, more hours, and full benefits. I run into kids I sacked with all the time. They are not managers of Market Basket stores.
So this guy Arthur T. Demoulas built a business that was so successful that anyone who wanted to work hard could be a store manager and stock holders could make millions while consumers got the best deals in town from very happy employees.
My family will stay away from Market Basket until ATD returns. It saddens me to see this characterized in political terms. This is not a political issue. These workers are not unionized. They are not part of some Occupy movement, and they are supporting a major 1%’er.
What we are seeing here is management, employees, and consumers outraged that a business model that has benefited each is threatened by disengaged stock traders. Stock traders who have been gutting the US economy for decades in the name of dividends. We are all outraged because we see this in our jobs and fear for our children’s future.
Arthur T. Demoulas is a rare CEO who has enriched his shareholders while sharing that success with his employees and providing great value to the community. Everyone should support him because we all want to work for that kind of company.
http://danvilledelivery.wordpress.com/2014/07/17/sacking-demoulas/
Thats the point. These guys ARE doing it right. The employees don’t want to turn into a Publix or Price Chopper.
You dont get this. This is actually good. The employees are holding out to get their GOOD management back.
I understand they do not own the store. But, they are what makes the store great. The new management is setting them up for a sale and it will make the store the same big box crappy store we all love to hate.
This is not about liberals/Conservatives. This is about maintaining high quality American standards vs selling out.
Market Basket is successful because they have aggressive pricing. The new leadership will change this and if they do not sell it quickly they will be out of business. Just another grocery chain going into a death spiral.
This is another example of how the men wearing green eye shades destroy a successful business.
That’s a nice story, but beside the point.
Employees, commentators, politicians, you, me and anyone else other than the owner has nothing to say about it.
And, no, “stock traders” haven’t gutted anything, ever.
There have been cases of corporate raiders accumulating a controlling position and then screwing up what they bought, but those very few guys aren’t “stock traders.”
And, even in those few cases where an attempt to rationalize or restructure a business didn’t work, well, that’s the way it goes. Nobody gets a guarantee that ownership of their employer won’t change hands while they’re employed.
You may hate a “big box crappy store,” I don’t.
In fact, I don’t care what the new owner wants to turn it into, nor should anyone.
Surely you’ve heard of property rights.
Whatever.
The customers are going to abandon the store.
Whatever?
OK.
The customers may or may not abandon the stores. You probably have less insight into that than the new owner does.
In any case, it’s their call. They’re the ones with the money at risk.
> “And, no, “stock traders” haven’t gutted anything, ever.”
Total BS. I worked for many years at Fruehauf. It was subject of a hostile takeover. There was some fighting between management and the wallstreet raider. They decided to stop fighting and join together to strip the place. They took it private (meaning they borrowed money in the name of the company to pay themselves). They took they money and ran. On the way out the door, they said, “Work hard to pay back the money we borrowed and paid to ourselves.” The company filed for bankruptcy after a few years of careening from one financial crisis to another.
The largest trailer company in the world is no more. There was a story on “60 Minutes” a few years later about the wallstreet raider. He was by then a patron of the arts. I wonder how many brush strokes on one of the paintings he donated to a museum were paid for with my pension.
Really? Hostile stock traders. I thought the business was owned by an extended family. The history of feuding goes back a generation. I also hear some in the family think Arthur is recklessly expanding the business taking too many risks. I really don't know. And, I doubt many workers know the business details of the company.
The family owns it. The politicians should stick their heads in their own butts. The workers should spend their time working at Market Basket until they find another job to their liking. The consumers can go to Star Market, Shaws, Stop and Shop, Trader Joes, or Whole Foods. They have choices.
Arthur can take his fortune and go start another business and run it his own way. All his old workers can go and join him. That's free enterprise. That's freedom.
The Market Basket chain was run in a very conservative manner. Shirt and tie to work, high standards, focus on customer service, and little toleration for slackers. Completely non-union.
They had a business model that worked. They ran on a tight budget (they don't even have a website), delivering good value to the customers yet rewarded even entry-level employees with performance bonuses - which no other supermarket chain does so far as I can tell.
The conservative side of me tells me that the executives at Market Basket have a right to run their business in the way that they choose and the employees must go along with it or find another job. However, I respect the employees for putting everything on the line and backing up with action what they say. Too many times in our society, people just pay lip service and refuse to put their money where their mouth is. Imagine if all of us just marched on Washington D.C. to demand the impeachment of Barack Obama instead of just talking about it here on these online forums and then just going about our regular business?
The new Market Basket CEO has much bigger problems on his hands than a workforce who has turned against him. For the customers of Market Basket have abandoned the store. So even if they fire all the Market Basket workers tomorrow and bring in all new employees, the customers will not be returning.
My sons tell me that regular customers started leaving the stores last week and vowing not to return until the old CEO was restored. This week, we are seeing nearly empty parking lots at the stores.
It will be very interesting to see how all this plays out.
You are correct, it is their money at risk. So far it looks like their risk will not be paying off.
I guess the free market is only good when the “right” people win.
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