Session 13 - Saturday April 16 - 5:00pm - 7:05pm
Broadway Theatre - 26 West Street Boston MA 02111
Throughout the summer of 2014, a corporate food fight played out in dozens of communities impacting thousands of workers, more than two million customers and the economies of three states.
When the faction of the Market Basket board headed by Arthur S. Demoulas fired his cousin and archrival Arthur T. Demoulas as long-time CEO of the successful supermarket chain, it set off a firestorm that sparked one of most unique corporate dramas in American history.
Within days of hearing the news that their beloved “Artie T” had been axed, several high-ranking managers resigned, others were fired. Truckers stopped trucking. Warehouses stopped supplying. Vendors stopped shipping. Customers stopped shopping. Employees picketed in parking lots. Practically overnight, the $4.5 billion dollar business, with 71 stores scattered across three states, ground to halt. Governors from two states were called in to negotiate a settlement.
Throughout the entire summer, workers, managers and customers were galvanized. They didn’t want more money, better benefits or work conditions. They only wanted back Arthur T, widely revered as a quiet leader operating on simple, long-held family values learned from his grandfather who started the business nearly 100 years ago – treat your workers well and give customers “more for their dollar”.
What unfolded for the next seven weeks erupted into a major news story that gripped New England and churned across the country. It’s the saga of a Greek immigrant who lived the American dream, but whose descendants fought for control of the company with fundamentally different views of how to run a successful business. The conflict became the poster child for the struggle of non-union workers and loyal customers to get a fair shake in a world where the 1% seems to pull all the strings. It is a distinctly 21st century drama where ideals, personalities, passions, old tactics and new tools turn conventional ideas about labor, management and consumers on its head.
