Market Basket Employees and Customers Take a Stand
Market Basket Employees and Customers Take a Stand
How many corporate CEO’s would be able to say that if they were fired tomorrow their 25,000 non-union employees would stage a protest to bring that CEO back? How many corporate CEO’s would be able to say that if they were fired their customers would join the 25,000 non-union employees and boycott the 70+ stores in protest? How many corporate CEO’s would be able to say that the boycotting customers would start their own GOFUNDME page and chip in over $18,000 in 23 hours to take out this full-page ad in the Lowell Sun?
The employees and customers of Market Basket, the grocery store chain with over 70 stores in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine, are taking a stand against corporate greed. This is an incredible and fascinating story of regular everyday people who are fighting for the reinstatement of their CEO Arthur T. DeMoulas. That’s right, they are fighting for the return of their CEO.
Let that sink in for a moment.
Basically this is a story of corporate greed and family bitterness. Last month one man, Arthur S. DeMoulas managed to sway the Board of Directors in his favor to fire the CEO, his cousin Arthur T. DeMoulas. Two Co-CEO’s were hired and top management who had been with the company for decades were fired. Hiring from outside the company was unprecedented.
If you listen to the false PR coming from the CEO’s, the Board of Directors, and some of the media, you would think the employees are being unreasonable, vindictive, and that customers are staying away from the stores because of the empoyees. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Most customers are shopping elsewhere in support of the return of Artie T. The customers have fought back against using social media to get the word out and using the hashtag #YouCantFireUsWeQuit
Before we moved to Rochester, NY, Market Basket was our go to grocery store. You can’t beat their low prices and great customer service. Every time we come back home we bring a big empty cooler with us. We head to Market Basket in Haverhill to do our shopping and load that cooler up with steak tips, seriously, they don’t have steak tips in Rochester. I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true, it wouldn’t be summer without steak tips on the grill. We always stop by the bakery and my daughter gets a frosted sugar cookie. For years the only grape soda she would drink was Market Basket brand and we would have to stock up on that as well.
Two weeks ago we came out for a family reunion and I had seen the beginning of the boycott on Facebook and Twitter. We went into Market Basket the day after the truck drivers walked off the job and saw the produce shelves were bare, the posters of Artie T, and the petitions to “Bring Back Artie T” on each register. We also saw smiling helpful employees and a spotless store.
We are back staying at my parent’s house this weekend and I have our big cooler ready to stock up on more steak tips but I’ll be shopping somewhere else. I’ll miss seeing the smiling faces of the Market Basket employees and the great prices but I won’t be buying anything from Market Basket until Artie T. is back.
The employees aren’t fighting for better wages, better working conditions, or better benefits, they are fighting to keep what they have. They know that with the firing of Artie T. they will lose what they have and can see that the 2 CEO’s and Arthur S. will destroy what Artie T. has built. Arthur S. and the Board of Directors need to take Artie T.’s offer to buy Market Basket and let the employees, vendors, and customers have their stores back.
