Replies

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/

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.

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.

My two sons work there (at least for now) and the working climate there is as you describe. Everybody has an opportunity to work hard and move through the ranks. People associate supermarkets with "dead end, low-wage" jobs but my older son worked his way into a full-time position where he was able to move out of our home and get his own place, with a new car, when he was in his early 20s. He's better off than most of his peers, many of which slouch around in loose "sports" clothing, ballcaps, and still live with their moms.

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.