The Market Basket Case
Over the course of six weeks in the summer of 2014, Market Basket employees, joined by their customers, protested against the firing of their beloved CEO. They risked their jobs, their livelihoods, and they brought the business to a halt. At a time when we see so much division between the CEOs who represent the top 1% and the workers, who represent by the bottom 99%, this level of support for a CEO got the attention of the entire country. Arthur Demoulas, he stands for valuing people. He always says we are in the people business first, grocery business second. And when the ownership changed, you started asking the questions, what's going to happen with our benefits? What's going to happen with our pay? And when you start taking away that factor of focusing on people, the entire business model starts to fall apart. The workers were fighting for a business model that works for everyone-- for them, for their customers, and for their shareholders. We saw a number of c...