UPDATE: Employees of a supermarket chain in New England are taking down a corporation

[graywarrior]

Last edited Wed Jul 23, 2014, 03:27 PM - Edit history (1)

Political support grows for Market Basket workers. Gov. Deval Patrick has not made a statement yet, but Martha Coakley, Jean Shaheen, Scott Brown, and New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan have made statements in support.

Recent rally


Link to above info:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2014/07/21/market-basket-now-hot-election-topic/HhOWKyQm4sTTSPQMvkDriJ/story.html





Letter written by one of the store directors

My name is Mike LeClair. I am the Store Director of Tilton59, a 27 year employee. My wife Tracey I met at Market Basket 25 years ago when she worked in the courtesy booth and I was an assistant up front... I was 17. My family started at MB. This message is to all the people I work with at my store. To all my mentors (Mr. Davis) and to those who have taught me so much, (Mr. Foucher). I'm angry, I'm upset and to be blunt I'm pissed! No more fear... I've spent my entire life at Market Basket. I've worked hard... I've missed my kids’ sports games, their awards, their successes, I've missed family reunions, weddings, and yes funerals. I've been committed, I've done my job. I've got a lot of dents in my head over the years... I am obstinate... I speak up for what I feel is right for my store...my people... My customers. Hear me now... After dealing with the hired security of Felicia Thornton and Jim Gooch for the last two days and after reading their prepared statement and their words of "trust and acceptance are earned and cannot be demanded or imposed" .... I'm done, you Felicia and Jim disrespect us. You have never been to my store, you have never called me. You disrespect my staff and their hard work. Tilton 59 is done with you. I worked today... My day off, yes Store Directors are off on Tuesdays, I worked to support my staff, to answer questions, and yes to protect them. With no respect intended, you Felicia and you Jim are clueless. The Board of directors that hired you should be criminally prosecuted for allowing you to bully us and for the fear you have spread. I'm not afraid anymore. I'm shutting Tilton 59 down Wednesday in every sense of the word. One cashier should be able to handle our business. I'm done with your threats, Tilton 59 associates are done as well. 330 people work with me... You have 330 security guards that work FOR you. Come get the perishable truck you sent that's at the dock unloaded... It will rot before we unload it. My wife and two boys will be outside my store with me Wednesday. I invite my employees to join me. I invite you Felicia and Jim to witness first hand another of your failures. We are not the peasants you think we are. We are all MB educated. We are experts in what we do. We are feared and respected worldwide. You have failed...Artie T is coming back... Kindly close the door on your way out of town.........again....Mike LeClair Store Director Tilton 59, Tilton NH. No more fear or bullying from you in this store. Time for you to go home. Feel free to send this note to the board as well, I’m not afraid.


http://www.wbur.org/2014/07/22/somerville-market-basket-protest

[sharp_stick]

1. I really hope they are successful

The way they've treated the CEO and all of their employees is shameful.

[sheshe2]

2. Kick and Hell yes Recommend!

[freshwest]

3. K&R... MB Strong.

[sheshe2]

4. They are a great market, freshwest.

It's the only place I can afford to shop, however they won't have my business until he is reinstated.

Love the employees!

[freshwest]

12. I posted on a thread that you posted a great graphic on, Sheshe:

Meet The Retail CEO So Popular That Thousands Of Workers Staged A Revolt When He Was Fired

to canoeist:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5279590

I posted this there:



What makes Demoulas so popular?

"He takes care of people, he cares more about people than money, he walks among associates and customers," Tom Trainor, an employee of 41 years who was fired Sunday for his role in the protests, told Business Insider. "He knows your name, your wife's name, your husband's name, what school your kids go to."

Trainor rose from bagger to district supervisor during his career at Market Basket.

He said that Demoulas is a great businessman, doubling profits in his eight years as CEO of the company.

"If associate or member of their family was seriously ill, he would personally make sure they received proper medical care," Trainor said. "He went more than the extra mile."

"He shook hands, he attended store openings, he was proud of what everyone accomplished instead of taking credit for himself," Pamela DeSantis White, whose father worked at Market Basket for more than 40 years, told Business Insider.

The dismantling of the fabric of our lives and communities for no good reason must end unless we want to live like feral dogs. Apparently, some think that is the new way to go, with their dog eat dog mentality.

A little more in the way of pictures and details:

At rally, Market Basket workers urged to take protests to stores

Erin Ailworth - July 21, 2014



TEWKSBURY — Yellow caution tape tied to overturned Market Basket carriages cordoned off the wide swath of parking lot at Stadium Plaza where thousands of protestors gathered to call for the return of ousted grocery chain president Arthur T. Demoulas. They waved signs, tooted horns, and cheered in support of the executive, who was fired in late June.

Monday’s rally came a day after eight senior employees, several of them organizers of the protest campaign, were terminated from their jobs...

Democrats were among those who showed their support:

Other speakers included Democratic state senators Barry R. Finegold of Andover and Eileen M. Donoghue of Lowell, who are among 35 state lawmakers who have signed a letter calling for a boycott of Market Basket.

“You are what is good about America,” Donoghue told the crowd. “We are going to stand with you, we are going to fight with you.”

The protests and the firings are the latest development in a remarkable public dispute over leadership of the grocery chain, which has 71 stores in Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire. On Friday, about 2,000 people gathered at the chain’s headquarters in Tewksbury to support the ousted president. Workers are demanding the return of Arthur T. Demoulas, who was fired in late June by a board controlled by his cousin and chief rival, Arthur S. Demoulas. For decades, the two have feuded over control of the company, which was started by their grandfather...

Many more details at the link:

http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2014/07/21/thousands-rally-outside-market-basket-store-for-ousted-ceo/CHFjzEFVhVDKmqYIneb3hP/story.html

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025273477#post2

That was the first I heard of this, but the writer didn't have a link yet, so I googled and posted that to help out.

Although this is my favorite thread so far, because it gives faces and shows the good that can be done in real life. Thanks for posting it!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025279590#post13

[sheshe2]

32. They are always packed when I go there, freshwest

The produce is always fresh because the turnover is so high.

Hey, power to the workers! Right on.

Thanks for the links!

[littlemissmartypants]

40. Hero. nt

[Bryce Butler]

5. I checked the comments and found this interesting...

lolexecs -
" Hmmm, I caught the name of the new co-CEO James Gooch.
I thought the name was familiar -- it's the same, brilliant chap that was running Radio Shack. "

[graywarrior]

6. I believe one of them also worked for Kmart/Sears and left after 12 months

[Sentath]

16. RadioShack, Sears, Kmart, Albertsons, Kroger, ...

What a pair of winners they chose:

James F. Gooch http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=28746877&ticker=RSH
Radioshack Corp (RSH:New York)
Last $0.83 USDChange Today +0.0131 / 1.61%



Felicia Thornton
http://www.forbes.com/profile/felicia-thornton/
http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Knowledge-Universe-Reviews-E290013.htm


http://www.boston.com/business/news/2014/07/17/market-basket-sends-letter-employees-threatens-fire-those-who-walk-out/taRgTpRf2POpI1Hwbe6BqK/story.html

[canoeist52]

19. Thanks for the links.

[Sentath]

20. Very Welcome. It seemed people were unsure of their history

So, I went and did a little digging.

Easy enough to drop the interesting results in a post ( :

[Atman]

10. So they hired the captain of the Titanic after it hit the iceberg.

Who the fuck are these brain trusts anyway? Good grief. I feel for the employees, they don't deserve this...but the MB corporate board deserves to fired, every single one of them.

[SunSeeker]

38. They weren't hired for their business skills.

They were hired for their firing skills, like most CEOs.

Normal, decent people can't bring themselves to make their living unfairly firing people. Your typical pathological CEO has no problem with that. Which is why CEOs are paid the big bucks.

[DeSwiss]

13. !

[Ineeda]

23. Gotta love The Onion^^^always on the mark. n/t

[nikto]

47. That's great. And so true.

[miyazaki]

24. 'The Gooch'? Just can't be good.

Fire The Gooch!!

[lancer78]

42. Urban Dictionary Definition

The Gooch


According to Johnny Knoxville, the area between a mans balls and his asshole. Equivilent to the "chin rest" on a woman

[miyazaki]

59. Rofl! n/t

[Cha]

44. Oh No! Thank you for that bit of history on Jim Gooch, Bryce Butler!

[BlancheSplanchnik]

7. huge k and r!

Don't feed corporate greed.

Awe inspiring letter.

[safeinOhio]

8. I'll bet the dick wad execs

are shaking in their shoes..No MBA class on this subject, your on your own now.

[Atman]

9. Boy, do I love living in New England.

Every one of the six states Democratically-run (Maine is an outlier, in many ways). Vermont, Bernie Sanders, hippie liberal states all, despite our "Puritanical" roots. Yay, Mike LeClair. If there was a Market Basket near me, I wouldn't shop there. But I'll always support you.

[MannyGoldstein]

14. And Elizabeth Warren is chopped liver?

(I emphatically agree with you.)

[Cha]

45. Yeah, I envy you all for that.. Lucky Dawgs!

[aggiesal]

11. What is the gist behind this protest? ...

This is the first I've heard the story.
Can anyone fill us uneducated on this story?
Thanks!

[MannyGoldstein]

15. See...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025279590

[edbermac]

18. Family dispute, good story here

I feel bad for the employees caught in the middle of all this.

.........

The Demoulas dispute started with a trusted family relationship that went bad. Partly what made it infamous was probably a result of the parties’ wherewithal – they have been able to fund decades of litigation. As the years passed and millions in fees accrued, the animosity built.

In 1917, Arthur Demoulas opened a local grocery store in Lowell. He and his wife operated it for some 40 years and then handed it over to their sons, George and Telemachus (“Mike”). The brothers grew the business quickly and their families were very close. In 1964, Mike and George executed wills, stating that if either brother died, the surviving brother would take care of the other’s family. Seven years later, George died unexpectedly. For years after George’s death all seemed well, and presumably George’s family trusted Mike to do right by them, but in 1987, the Massachusetts Department of Revenue noticed an irregularity in a tax filing of George’s oldest son, which his uncle Mike submitted. As George’s family dug deeper into Mike’s dealings, it turned out that all was not as it seemed.

Prior to George’s death, Mike and George were 50/50 partners in the supermarket chain. It turns out that in the years since George’s death, Mike secretly had been transferring George’s family’s shares to himself and his family, leaving George’s family with only an 8% share while amassing 92% of the company for his family. In 1990, George’s family sued Mike for fraud, alleging losses of nearly $800 million. They also brought a shareholder derivative claim arguing that Mike wrongfully diverted $1 billion of company assets into new companies, such as Market Basket, Inc. Discovery was contentious and carried on for roughly four years, but the first several trials finally began in January 1994.

The first trial, concerning the fraud claim, included a fist fight in the courtroom between the sons of George and Mike, Arthur S. and Arthur T. Demoulas. The second trial, concerning the derivative claim, included allegations of judicial bias and the parties being represented by 22 different lawyers. The third suit included allegations that Arthur S. had wiretapped the defendants and led to charges that a juror offered to “fix” the trial for a payment of $200,000. All three suits were decided in favor of the plaintiffs, resulting in the judge awarding George’s family 51% of the company.

http://www.bostonbusinessdivorce.com/demoulas-v-demoulas-supermarkets-inc/

[graywarrior]

22. Here is an amusing but informative history

http://gloucesterclam.com/2014/07/21/clamsplainer-market-baskets-storied-history-of-crazy/

[RiffRandell]

26. Very amusing AND informative.

Funny, but sad.

[Cha]

46. That was funny as hell, gray! I want to go back and read tomorrow's too!

"Tomorrow: I’ll explain what this convoluted-as-fuck backstory has to do with why the Basket has no fucking produce this week. It’s just as nutty. I guarantee it."

Thank you for "Clamsplainer: Market Basket’s Storied History of Crazy", graywarrior!!

[Cha]

57. Here's the next day's installment, gray.. "Clamsplainer: Market Basket Is Freakin’ Out"

Posted on July 22, 2014 by KT Toomey

"We left off yesterday’s post about the Basket case at the end of the kerfluffle spanning the ’90s with the stripper, the fraud, and the blackmail. Seriously, go read that part if you haven’t, but don’t come after me for migraine pills, I used them all up writing it.

So what does Market Basket’s checkered family past have to do with what’s going on today, and why the hell doesn’t the Basket have any salad fixings at all?"


Nothin’ left but some melons and an artistically placed Gloucester Clam sticker, naturally

http://gloucesterclam.com/2014/07/22/clamsplainer-market-basket-is-freakin-out/

Thanks Again for this link, graywarrior!

[graywarrior]

58. lol, thanks!

[NealK]

17. K&R

[graywarrior]

21. Interview with fire employees right now

http://www.wgbh.org/audioplayers/wgbh.cfm

[WillyT]

25. K & R !!!

[graywarrior]

27. UPDATE in original post

[HomerRamone]

28. New leadership intends to increase profits by raising prices

affidavit of Jack Demoulas describing how Arthur S Demoulas informed him that he intended to increase profits by raising prices.

http://wearemarketbasket.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/rockwell_deposition9_3_13.pdf

[senseandsensibility]

29. Profiles in Courage contender Duval Patrick

has not made a comment yet.

[graywarrior]

31. Let's not judge

This is a complicated situation. It's a family feud and a private company. I'll wait to hear his reasoning.

[MADem]

35. Do you think he should weigh in on every private labor dispute?

I support these people completely--I have been a customer, off and on, for 40 years or more, before it was "Market Basket" and it was "Demoulas." I just may waddle out to the protest on Friday and wave a sign as a customer, that's how much I like the place and the people.

That said, I don't expect the doggone governor to weigh in on every strike action, particularly when it involves private companies. I'd be surprised if Patrick knows either Arthur T. or Arthur S. Demoulas, the feuding cousins in this situation. We aren't talking a public utility or a transportation strike, here--we're talking about one supermarket chain amongst a dozen or more here in the Commonwealth.

[onethatcares]

30. gauddammm greed

it fucks up everything that could be good.

[canoeist52]

33. If you want to support the truckdrivers and warehouse workers involved in the strike

"We Are Market Basket. We are setting up this fund to support the truck drivers and warehouse workers who are standing alongside us in our fight to save the company we love. Every penny we raise will go to helping these men who need financial support until we have ATD back in charge.

Please help us help them.

We Are Market Basket set this Go Fund Me page up for the truck drivers and warehouse workers earlier today and we should have put a statement on here saying that it was NOT a scam. During today's WGBH radio broadcast with Tom Trainor and Joe Schmidt, it was announced that such a site had been set up and this is it. We want to help these associates. Go Fund Me is a legitimate fundraising site and We Are Market Basket hope to use their site's resources for a good cause.

We are not asking our customers to help them out, though we would certainly be pleased if they did, but rather we are looking for associates to help fellow associates who are standing alongside each other.

You will see the name "Bob Smith" as being involved. We used that pseudonym when we set up this page on FB."

http://www.gofundme.com/bzt0qk

[MADem]

34. They are going to do a HUGE demo on Friday. nt

[niyad]

36. k and r

[quakerboy]

37. Part of me wonders

Exactly how hard it could be to just take all the experience and his personal fortune, and just start a new chain without the divided ownership.

[graywarrior]

39. Over the years, MB has been able to squeeze vendors in order to keep their prices low

I'm sure there are contracts in there that Art T would have difficulty replicating. But that's my uneducated guess.

[rox63]

50. Besides, it's personal

This ceased being about money a long time ago. It's about who controls the family legacy.

[graywarrior]

51. And I thought we were all crazy....lol

[rox63]

53. I live in Lowell, MA - Ground zero for the long Demoulas family feud

I pass three of their stores on my 11.6 mile commute to work, and there are probably 6 of their stores within 5 miles of my house. I've shopped there my whole life, as have my parents. I generally only go to the other supermarkets when I want something a bit out of the ordinary. This week, I've had to go elsewhere. The prices were a lot higher, and the service wasn't nearly as good as at MB. Happy employees makes a big difference in how well a business works.

[graywarrior]

54. I live sort of near you on the Haverhill line in Georgetown

There are 3 stores in my vicinity, always packed. I had to go to Stop & Shop in Topsfield this morning. The prices were $2 to $3 higher than at MB. I walked out. I'd rather starve than pay those prices. Right now, there is no food in the house. It's worth it.

[rox63]

55. My elderly mom is not looking forward to shopping elsewhere this weekend

I've got to take her out to do her errands. She's legally blind and very set in her ways. I'm sure she'll be mighty cranky by the end of the trip.

[graywarrior]

56. People are still shopping at stores

They just don't have perishables. The workers understand that MB is the only store some people shop at due to transportation or income, etc. By late Friday, we should know if Artie T is going to buy the store from his cousin. If not, I think MB is done.

[smirkymonkey]

41. Bravo Market Basket employees!

As a Boston resident, I support you completely!

[Cha]

43. Wow, Mike LeClair~ No FEAR! Amazing update.. thank you, graywarrior!

Market Basket!

[graywarrior]

48. UPDATE: Arthur T will offer to buy out the evil side of the family

The former CEO of Market Basket says he will make an offer to buy the Market Basket supermarket chain.

More...

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2014/07/24/daily-talker-arthur-t-demoulas-offers-to-buy-market-basket/

[onecent]

49. I hope this is contagious and Americans

begin waking up and lose their APATHY. No one in America
cares or is watching if they are between 21 and 45. I saw on tv yesterday
morning show that a gallon of orange juice is over $6.00. INSANE.

[graywarrior]

52. Amazingly, the workers that are the most engaged in this process are the millenniums.

They are totally on board and outside the stores asking that customers boycott MB til this is resolved. I am so impressed with them.

[mountain grammy]

60. No more fear.... the only way any cause can progress

I stand in solidarity with these workers.

[graywarrior]

61. We'll know today whether Artie T's offer is accepted