http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/...leTab_Article_
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/...mMK/story.html
Here's the TL;DR version:
Market Basket is a series of supermarkets in the northeastern US, and is one of the oldest major businesses that is still family owned. For years, there has been a bitter familial dispute between two sides of the family about who should control the business, and for years, Arthur T. Demoulas was the CEO. He was well known for giving employees higher wages, profit sharing options, and good benefits, and was pretty well loved by his staff. He was able to stay CEO by one person from his cousin's side of the family (his cousin is Arthur S. Demoulas) who voted differently from her side of the family for years. Recently, she finally voted against ATD, and he was removed as CEO and fired.
Queue the current situation, as almost all of the employees at the store levels have rebelled, demanding his reinstatement. Several lifelong employees were summarily fired (which has more or less martyred them), truckers are refusing to deliver stock, and many of the stores have bare shelves as a result. The entire thing has more or less turned into a fiasco. The sales of items they DO have in stock have plummeted, as many customers are going to other chains to support the protest.
I normally don't get political on forums (it never ends well), but it does make me grin quite a bit to notice that, for once, it's been made more or less clear that a lot more control really exists at the level of the line employees than people believe. A lot of execs are continually out of touch with the reality that, without those people, their company folds. It will be interesting to see how this all unfolds.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/...mMK/story.html
Here's the TL;DR version:
Market Basket is a series of supermarkets in the northeastern US, and is one of the oldest major businesses that is still family owned. For years, there has been a bitter familial dispute between two sides of the family about who should control the business, and for years, Arthur T. Demoulas was the CEO. He was well known for giving employees higher wages, profit sharing options, and good benefits, and was pretty well loved by his staff. He was able to stay CEO by one person from his cousin's side of the family (his cousin is Arthur S. Demoulas) who voted differently from her side of the family for years. Recently, she finally voted against ATD, and he was removed as CEO and fired.
Queue the current situation, as almost all of the employees at the store levels have rebelled, demanding his reinstatement. Several lifelong employees were summarily fired (which has more or less martyred them), truckers are refusing to deliver stock, and many of the stores have bare shelves as a result. The entire thing has more or less turned into a fiasco. The sales of items they DO have in stock have plummeted, as many customers are going to other chains to support the protest.
I normally don't get political on forums (it never ends well), but it does make me grin quite a bit to notice that, for once, it's been made more or less clear that a lot more control really exists at the level of the line employees than people believe. A lot of execs are continually out of touch with the reality that, without those people, their company folds. It will be interesting to see how this all unfolds.
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