The Market Basket board of directors faces unified opposition from both workers and customers who want the board to either reinstate ousted former CEO Arthur T. Demoulas (Artie T), or allow him to purchase the company. Judging by what I have seen the profit losses during this boycott must be staggering, so I decided to make a trip there and see what was going on. At first glance it seems like the stores aren’t open because there are no cars in the parking lot, especially considering that my visit took place on what would normally be a busy Saturday afternoon.
Protesters were outside waving to the cars that drove by, enjoying generous support responses from drivers who would honk their horns repeatedly and wave back at the sign holders. Once inside I have to say it looked quite strange to see no one else. I spoke with a worker who had been there 25 years and had personal experiences with Arthur T. Demoulas who said
“Artie T loves the people who work for him, that’s why we are all standing up for him now.”
Many shelves are bare and the isles are deserted with the exception of the skeleton crew who are diligently keeping up with what little there is left to do. Everywhere you look there are reminders of the power struggle being waged as workers have put tasteful effective signs reminding all who come that they want Arthur T Demoulas back in control.
As I was making my way through the store I found a lone shopper who was happy to chat about her thoughts on the matter. Mary Ann, 69, is a Salem resident and has shopped at Market Basket since it first opened. I thought that she would say that she was a die-hard loyal customer, that’s why she was still there, but her response was unexpected:
I support the boycott and the workers but I have a little girl’s birthday party to save and I just came from Shaw’ s where the lines are too long for me to wait, so I’m getting just a couple of things I need. I’m not going to shop here until Artie T is back.
To some this may seem like nothing more than a squabbling super rich family matter, but to the workers who have pride and loyalty in this company it is about the changes Arthur S Demoulas threatens to bring as the board elected new CEO. The issue certainly goes deeper than two cousins fighting over money.
The board of directors have a few choices ahead of them: They can rehire Artie T as CEO, they can sell the company to Artie T, or they can proceed as planned with a vigorous shake up of current prices, policy and personnel. One thing seems certain though, employees and shoppers alike, the ones who can make or break a company, are unified in their stand. How much profit will Market Basket have to lose before the board of directors come up with a viable solution? Anyone’s guess is as good as mine.
I’ve heard some negative comments about Artie T in comparison to another more famous local business owner, allow me to share what I know. Being a former employee of Malden Mills and having my Aunt Jackie Hosty as the 32 year secretary for owner Aaron Feuerstein I remember him well. There was a Great Fire in 1995 that crippled the plant’s production of Polartech, a technology in winter weather apparel used all over the world by companies like Nike and others. I strongly believe Feuerstein’s words helped shape my ethics and sense of fairness, and his actions still resonate through our community almost twenty years later.
“Nobody needs to worry, I’m going to continue to pay everyone out of my own pocket. I have insurance and I plan to rebuild the facility right here.”
Artie T might not be Aaron Feuerstein, but I see the same spirit of unity and belonging in his employees as was then, and all participants can be proud to know that there stand has already made a difference in the hearts and minds of their community, just like it did back in my time at Malden Mills.
As a side note, the board governing Malden Mills rewarded Feuerstein by firing him too. More and more this seems to be the attitude of Corporate America that greed is good even at the cost of employees and customers alike.
It was my first attempt since the MB boycotts started. I go back and forth between MB and Hannaford anyway, often depending on which is geographically more convenient at the time or due to a difference in offerings. For obvious reasons I intended on going to Hannaford, but wanted to see if there were activity at my local MB. I drove past Hannaford and noticed the parking lot packed as I had never seen. Driving by MB the lot was just about empty and there were a few demonstrators on the sidewalk. I circled back to Hannaford and had trouble finding a spot, which was out of the ordinary. Inside, it was clear Hannaford had benefited from the MB situation. Not only was it more crowded than ever, but plenty of evidence they were struggling to keep up with demand. Several of THEIR shelves were also empty or extremely thin and there were a couple of items I was looking for that I didn’t find this time. It was almost as if we had been hit by a famine.
When Aaron Feuerstein was fired, Malden Mills was already a union shop. That means that the Malden Mills workers had much less to fear from management than their counterparts at Market Basket.
I don’t ask that Arthur T. DeMoulas be Aaron Feuerstein. I do ask that in all this media hyperbole about “the workers” and how much they love Arthur T. DeMoulas, we remember how much more exposed they are in this battle.
I’m reminded of those who publicly proclaim such admiration for combat “heroes” who die by the hundreds while “taking” some hamlet somewhere — the same admirers who too often work privately to ensure that those grunts lack armor protection for their vehicles, air support to protect their advance, and political support from their Generals. Generals casually order the certain deaths of hundreds of young men and women, and we cheer the “heroism” of the dead.
I would have a great deal more respect for Mr. DeMoulas (Arthur T) if he stepped up and publicly advocated unionization for Market Basket workers. I can’t think of a better way to simultaneously skewer his own family opposition.
My point is that the situations are different but the same spirit of loyalty to employer is the same. Aaron squashed the problem with his wallet in one magnanimous act while Artie T seems to have been more fostering for years the loyalty he enjoys by being in the trenches with the commoners.
If I remember correctly, and I may not, Aaron had used bankruptcy to his advantage and the board had special powers given them in this situation that they used to oust him because, like the Market Basket board, they felt he wasn’t greedy enough.
I am curious as to what the union organizing history at Market Basket is. Did any union try to organize there and what was the management response? That would be good to know in order to make comparisons with Malden Mills or any other company.
It seems obvious to me that the Market Basket workers have a great deal of faith in Arthur T even though they do not have union representation. They are certainly putting themselves on the line for their preferred CEO. That has to mean something but just what can’t be determined without a knowledge of the union history of Market Basket.
On the whole thing, pretty fair and balanced evaluating Artie T’s faults as well as strengths. But this part is the clearest sign that we should be on his side in the short term rather than griping about unionization.
And this gem on the Arthur S side:
The choice isn’t between a unionized MB and Arthur T, the reality is between a benevolent Arthur T and an Arthur S who will sell his business to the Bain School of Management types over in a leveraged private equity buyout. Arthur T is the Willy Wonka to Arthur S’ Gordan Gekko.
I totally agree that MB should unionize after this fight, or maybe that the workers should’ve years ago, but that argument is sort of irrelevant if we lose MB to a bunch of out of state vultures with MBAs.
If a union contract is in place before a sale (to Cerberus or anyone else), the new owners must conform to it. Things like profit sharing, annual increases, wage levels, vacation (and sick) time, and such are more reliably assured if they are written in a multi-year contract than assured by any single executive — executives, as we’ve learned, are more easily changed than contracts.
A genuine and immediate threat to unionize NOW seems to me to be among the more potent levers available to both Arthur T and the workers. I don’t get the apparent reluctance to embrace this idea.
Like it or not, the workers are in a gun-fight, not a Tim Burton film. The workers need at least one gun with ammunition. Even a threat to organize is going to get the attention of both sides (as well as any suitors).
The actual existence of a union contract is the workers best assurance that the working standards and conditions that they have grown accustomed to will continue.
It seems likely that they could theoretically just get mass fired for taking part in the actions they are doing now, and that unionization would just accelerate the fire sale to Cerberus. I don’t see how the timeframe enables it to be used as leverage, but I am certainly open to it. I would hope that they do unionize if and when Artie T comes back to power.
The workers are getting fired anyway.
A union contract can at least provide a little protection and perhaps provide things like severance benefits — it might be possible to make “Baining” MB a bit more expensive.
If new owners decide to Bain the place by closing the stores and selling off all the assets, a union contract wouldn’t mean much. It’s been said here that the MB corporation owns all the shopping plazas where the stores are. That’s a lot of valuable land and structure.
If the new owners decide to Bain MB, then nothing much matters — it may already be too late. To me, this increasingly looks like the most likely scenario. It is the best explanation I can think of for choosing the new “management”, and for the choices made by the new management as recently as this week.
In this scenario, the workers were screwed a long time ago. We have already provided little protection for unionized workers in such cases, and non-union workers have no protection — and no power — at all.
Perhaps this entire sorry spectacle can someday be used as an instructional aid for helping residents and voters understand why society needs strong unions — not to mention as a primer on what “successful business experience” actually means.