Market Basket's letter to it's customers concerning the strike

[canoeist52]

To Our Customers

..."We are determined to save our company and what it means to everyone involved. We firmly believe that the firing of Arthur T. Demoulas and his management team is simply the start of a process which will lead to the dismantling of Market Basket as we know it for the enrichment of a few shareholders. This process will involve the selling of real estate assets, the raising of prices in order to increase profits and more changes in the makeup of leadership. Arthur S. Demoulas is bent on destroying all that we hold dear about this company to satisfy his unrelenting desire for money and revenge.

We have decided that we cannot sit back and be silent as they steer this ship headlong into the iceberg. To do so would have us be complicit in their plan. We are resolved to do what we can to stop them and take our company back. What we are doing is unprecedented so therefore we have no blueprint to follow or business school lesson to refer to. Some may think we are naive and maybe we are. Perhaps that naivete works in our favor as it allows us to believe that what we are doing is not only right but also achievable. We hope to become the precedent, the blueprint and the business school lesson! We are scared, but not as scared as we are of their ruinous plan."

http://wearemarketbasket.com/to-our-customers/



http://wearemarketbasket.com/to-our-customers/

[MannyGoldstein]

1. K&R To The Max! This Is An Amazing Situation.

Someone should write some background to this, if it hasn't been done already. If nobody else does, I might write a post later tonight.

[BillZBubb]

2. Some background would help.

Without it, the original post doesn't seem to make sense.

[MannyGoldstein]

3. Links...

http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2014/07/18/employees-gather-outside-demoulas-headquarters-tewksbury-demand-return-ousted-ceo/Ohe9yhENVFCADBTWgG5IHO/story.html

http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2014/07/14/the-saga-demoulas-market-basket/S1D7gi92dqfJYZzr9FIBCJ/story.html

[TheCowsCameHome]

4. The letter was written by loyal Market Basket employees

in support of Arthur T Demoulas (good guy, who was ousted) vs. Arthur S Demoulas ( the bad guy, who has taken over)

This is a very interesting situation, and it is far from over.

[BillZBubb]

7. Thanks!

Now it makes sense. Go Arthur T!

[MADem]

29. The workers who haven't gone out--who are still working in the stores--are putting up signs

INSIDE the stores in support of Arthur T, and putting BOYCOTT signs on the entrance doors!!!

And there's really not shit "management" can do about it, because even the STORE MANAGERS are supporting Arthur T!

This is one of the most ASTOUNDING labor actions I've ever seen! The customer support and the cohesiveness--even between the workers who are staying on the job and going out to protest after they've finished their shifts--is amazing.

[MADem]

13. The CEO who was good to the workers and sensitive to customers was fired. The workers are bullshit

and striking until he is reinstated. Even many of the truckers have gone out with the workers. Some workers have been fired for not showing up to work.

The customers, overwhelmingly, are supporting the workers. The parking lots in front of MB are a wasteland.

I am one of those customers who is fully supportive of this labor action--we spend a FORTUNE at MB annually and we like it the way it is--we do not need one more Royal A-Hole Dutch Conglomerate grocery chain--this regional chain sells ethnic foods, and responds to LOCAL tastes. I actually patronized the hated Stop and Shop the other day, they looked like deer in the headlights with all the customers they never see ordinarily (those stores are never heavily trafficked, but the place was a zoo when I went--full of MB shoppers looking for shit).

[catnhatnh]

5. It is for real and I've never seen the like...

Last edited Tue Jul 22, 2014, 07:30 PM - Edit history (1)

If you would like to help, the store workers suggest you E-mail these three board members:
Chairman [e-mail]
Member [e-mail]
Member [e-mail]

Either read and write a personal note or just send "I support the workers"

Actions were delayed last year after customer complaints mounted so this campaign has a real shot at helping those risking years of service and dedicated to maintaining their family tradition.


Edit for spelling like a moron....I had the chairman's name wrong.Sorry

[MADem]

14. Does Cowan actually spell his name Kieth? Not Keith?

I wonder if those addresses are at all useful...Yahoo? Gmail?

Maybe a postcard campaign would be more on the mark...? Or simply a comment at the strikers' fb or twitter pages?

I am with the workers; I am loyal to MB since they were "Demoulas' Markets" but I won't cross their threshold until the workers get satisfaction.

[catnhatnh]

24. No-I screwed up....

I'll fix it. thank you!

[MADem]

25. Well, this thread is now in "MILESTONES" territory--it deserves some love from those of us

in the region who

a) Patronize this store;

b) Like the product and the workers;

c) Are pissed at the BAD Arthur for trying to sell off/fuck up the Demoulas crown jewel;

d) Want this labor action to succeed.


I'm so glad that the people at the distribution center went out, too, along with most of the truckers. Let the suits try loading those heads of lettuce! Baaastids!

[Demeter]

6. What a mess

I shopped Demoulas Market Basket when I lived in New England, for 24 years. I hope the workers can buy it out and become a cooperative workplace. That would eliminate a lot of the conflict.

[canoeist52]

8. Two facebook pages that explain more

and the "likes"are growing fast!

https://www.facebook.com/BanMarketBasket

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Save-Market-Basket/136649323208808?fref=nf

And local lawmakers are getting involved on behalf of employees.

[canoeist52]

9. Petition site to re-instate the CEO

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/889/093/719/reinstate-arthur-t-demoulas-as-market-basket-ceo/

and to keep informed on the issue;
http://wearemarketbasket.com/

"This website has been set up to give the people of Market Basket, be they associates, customers, vendors or any interested party, a forum to read opinion pieces and see public documents related to the current crisis which was brought on by Arthur S. Demoulas and threatens the existence of the company. We want to provide an open space for people to voice their own concerns on a site dedicated to this one issue. This site is also the peoples' answer to the farce of a site recently set up by the Board of Directors which has shown itself to be a one way street of carefully manipulated misinformation. This is our site. This is our company. We Are Market Basket."

[TheCowsCameHome]

10. New Market Basket management has started firing workers

this is going to get ugly very quick.

It is a somewhat local Massachusetts matter, but the whole story is really something - I've never seen workers rally around a CEO like the have around Arthur T.

[tymorial]

11. Its truley inspiring

Workers and some management joining together. Lawmakers in Massachusetts are lending support to employee action. This is really something special.

[MADem]

23. That is a great and important point you make about lawmakers.

I'd urge people to look up their state rep, get an email address, and WEIGH IN with them.

Amazing how those legislators will pipe up with brave words of support when they've figured out which way the wind is blowing when it comes to constituent attitudes.

[MADem]

15. NH and Maine, too. nt

[MADem]

16. The dumb pluckers need to understand that for every worker they fire, they are "firing" thousands of

customers.

If they don't reinstate ATD and rehire those people, I'll never darken their doors again.

And I spend THOUSANDS there each year!!!!

[MADem]

12. That is not "MARKET BASKET's" letter--that is the letter of the STRIKERS, and I support them!!!!!

MARKET BASKET has been taken over by a bunch of assholes--I am boycotting them until they rehire Arthur and the fired workers.

I don't have any friends or relatives who work there, I just like the place, I like the people who work there, I like their prices and customer service--and I am supporting this labor action wholeheartedly, to the point where I will go buy shit at the (hated) Stop and Shop (where I saw a shitload of MB shoppers yesterday, FWIW).

VIDEO OF RALLY:

#t=35

Kick and rec this thread--this is a BIG DEAL FOR LABOR IN MA.

[canoeist52]

17. Yep, my skin in this game is that we can't afford to shop anywhere else.

I'm boycotting them anyway. Farmer's markets and Hannaford.

And I consider Market Basket to be it's employees, not whoever it's current predator capitalists are that want to destroy it.

[MADem]

18. We're in the same "canoe" on this issue, that's for sure!

I love that store. No bullshit, affordable food, ethnic selections for those of us who like stuff that isn't "heartland bland," and really nice employees who act like they like their jobs and their bosses.

Why anyone would want to fuck with that combination is beyond me, especially since the franchise is very profitable...but a few cheap bums want to squeeze a dime here, a penny there, and try to make even MORE money. They just don't understand that ya have to give a little to get a little. When those nice workers feel compelled to go out, I'm out with 'em.

[canoeist52]

20. I believe that the new management wants to "Romneyize" the business.

Sell off any value for a quick profit. If they try to run it like a stop and shop, they will lose because we already have too many of those expensive stores. Our MB in Raynham is packed with customers every day of the week any time of day - and the customers are there because it has the cheapest prices.(1/3 of the other local stores). Market Basket hae several new stores that were supposed to open within the last year. They are being sued by the mall in Attleboro for breech of contract for this, as it was to be one of the anchor stores there.

Raises a lot of hmmm as to their intentions.

[MADem]

22. This is what I am hearing, too--break it up and sell it off...the bastards. nt

[Mass]

19. Same here. I like their price and their products

unfortunately, now I am left with the three usual suspects in Central Mass, Big Y, Stop and Shop and Shaws and prices that go through the roof. Yikes.

[MADem]

21. Get one of those S and S cards in the name of your dead dog.

Or a deceased relative! That will help with the costs at S and S in the interim. If they ask for ID, change the middle initial so you know that the junk mail you are getting is from them!

My cat (dead for ten years or more, now) and my grandmama, dead for way longer than that, still get mail "thanks" to those stupid market/drugstore cards!

I am on the Cape often so I have one of those cards for S/S--it used to be that Shaws (which used to have cards) and S/S were the only real choices down there. When they put a MB off exit one I did the happy dance, even though it's one helluva slog from the mid-Cape to get there (I have relatives near the bridge, so I paired shopping with visiting).

If this goes on for much longer I will go to the commissary at Bedford...I generally only go there every other month or so--they're lousy at fresh produce, great with meats and packaged/frozen goods. I won't go to a MB to use the bathroom!

[Blaukraut]

26. We stand with the MB employees. Until there is a resolution, it's Stop-n-Shop in town

SS is expensive, but the store in our town is unionized, so we don't mind shopping there so much.

[daleanime]

27. K&R....

[Omaha Steve]

28. I got to this a little late

K&R!

[MADem]

30. Never too late, Steve--the fun is just beginning, I think.

On the news this evening, they were interviewing people working IN the stores who were supporting the strikers outside the stores!

The "suits" in this labor action have screwed up big time!

[MADem]

31. More coverage from over the border in Epping NH--some good footage of worker interviews.

http://www.wmur.com/money/arrest-made-as-workers-continue-market-basket-protests/27097896#!bkhlEk

[canoeist52]

32. Great letter from Store Director of Tilton, NH # 59, a 27 year employee

https://www.facebook.com/groups/575637839146416/

"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."

[Mopar151]

33. So, where did they hire the goon squad?

330 security guards - is that like 2 per store? Who has replaced Baldwin-Felts, or Pinkerton, as thugs for hire?