Why that’s downright unamerican!!!
Also, for those not in the know. Market Basket has 3 important things. Great prices, very helpful employees, and an unreal number of checkout aisles. One store near here has 37 checkouts. 37!!
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And now Slate:
I’m keeping as up to date on this, and will keep posting links as they come.
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I’m from southeastern Mass and I can’t tell you how much we rely on Marketbasket. It’s easily the cheapest, and normally cleanest, grocery store in the area. Locals literally get excited when there are rumors of one being built near by.
The key to the whole thing is debt. The other local chains, Shaws and Stop & Shop have been bought and sold repeatedly. 15%+ of prices represent the money needed to service the debt behind those transactions.
I don’t know Arthur T personally, but I can’t think of many CEOs whose ouster would spark mass employee protests. I hope they keep fighting.
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Latest news: The board has threatened to replace workers who don’t return by Monday.
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Thanks for keeping us up-to-date with this. 'Preciate it.
The solidarity on display here is astonishing. More power to them.
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You’re welcome. I’m getting 20 or 30 different stories a day showing up on my news feed and I’m trying to sort out the ones that don’t just rehash what we already know, unless it’s coming from a new and major source like Slate or HuffPo. I’ll try to keep this thread up to speed.
Some of the employees have also got a website and Facebook page set up. The posts aren’t always particularly professional looking, but they’re straight from the source.
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The board is insisting that there is a competing offer with Arthur T’s to purchase the company, but other sources insist that they’re simply stalling. There is a big fear that the Arthur S side of the family would literally rather lose everything than admit fault in the current catastrophe.
The Mass attorney general is now getting involved: They’ve set up a hotline for workers, as they are worried the company may be violating labor laws in firing protesting employees.
Rumor is that business courses around the country are already using this situation as an example of how to never react to a crisis…
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Several new developments since the last update…
Protests continue despite direct orders from the board of directors. The biggest issue is the proposed sale of the company- Arthur T has made an offer based on the pre-crisis value, and the deal is being held up over the specific terms. Even the independent board members are done with the ASD side nonsense.
We Are Market Basket borders on conspiracy theory while The Boston Globe has a rundown from pundits left and right weighing in on the situation.
In bigger news, a major supplier (and owner of the most metal fishing boat ever) has gone public with their dealings with MB management over the last couple months. One of the more troubling items involves seemingly deliberate overpayments- And the Save Market Basket FB page reports not only a typical employee-blaming response from the board, but also that 6 vendors received nearly a million dollars in unexplained overpayments .
The Attorney General is already involved, and now the governors of both NH and MA have stepped in.
Finally, in what may be the beginning of a happy end to this whole saga, the Boston Globe reports that Arthur T has secured $500million in financing from a private equity firm. It has been disclosed that the $1.5billion sale has been held up by the terms proposed in a seller-financed transaction. It is believed that the parties may reach an agreement this weekend.
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HOLY SHIT.
IT LOOKS LIKE WE WON.
The Boston Globe announces that an agreement has been reached for Arthur T to purchase the company and immediately take control, and the board is voting tonight at a late meeting.
WMUR reports the deal has been signed.
This is a huge, huge deal. LABOR WON.
I’m sure there will be much followup news over the next few days, but the expectation is that employees will return to work, and most people believe that long term employees who were fired will be asked to return.
Sales are currently down 95%, and the company is being purchased for it’s pre-crisis value. While there is definitely cause for celebration and reason to hope, it’s fair to say that they have a tough few months ahead of them while they pick up the pieces and get back to business.
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Been following this on the FB link. Is awesome news. 
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Update: More details of the sale are coming out.
Arthur T will take over all operations as CEO effective immediately. He is bringing his entire management team, including those who were terminated as a result of the protest.
Jim Gooch and Felicia Thornton will remain as co-CEOs until the sale is finalized, which may take several weeks.
Arthur addressed employees and supporters today at headquarters.
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This whole thing brings up issues around inheritance, wealth, and control. Non-participatory owning of capital is easy to deal with in passing on wealth: liquidate and split it up. Transmitting participatory capital is, by contrast, vulnerable to so many problems: who gets control? Who in the pool of heirs has the ability to carry on the family business and who is to be bought out and paid off? With what magical injection of cash will the idle rich among the heirs be bought out? It almost makes primogeniture seem rational, but it also makes evident the inherent weakness of aristocracy.
The deck is so ridiculously stacked against involved ownership that it’s a wonder there are any large owner-operaters at all who aren’t also maniacal, power-crazed warlords. With the institution of owner-operation so weak at its core, how can capital find balance against the dead-eyed, uncommitted vultures of “capital management”?
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Fuck yeah : D
I think the tide might actually be turning.
BTW, I found God via DMT the other day, and all that good stuff all those guys have said is totally true.
Find hope via incremental self-improvement, because you’re a fractal holographic microcosm of the whole.
Bring the love, and the scumbags will starve and evaporate, and your demons will die.
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But… my demons drive me.
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Not mine. I find they drive like Montrealers. Being a Montrealer myself, I know just how bad that is…
This is amazing! And unexpected! I’m glad. This was such a terrible summer in so many ways, and it’s heartening to see something good happen.
But which way?
Time’s a wasting; I dunno if it’s cool to be taking the long way round anymore
A happy little bit of an epilogue: MB sales figures are back to where they were before the boycott.
Arthur T says that the debt the company has (for the first time) taken on will have a definite impact on the company’s rate of expansion, but will not affect prices or worker benefits.
Way to go.
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Continuing epilogue:
MIT is hosting a panel discussion on what these recent events mean for the future of labor, unions, and the study of economics in general.
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