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2014 Demoulas Market Basket Protests [1]. 15,000 un-unionized employees in New England walked off their family-owned supermarket jobs after a board-flip and re

2014 Demoulas Market Basket Protests [1]. 15,000 un-unionized employees in New England walked off their family-owned supermarket jobs after a board-flip and resulting capitulation of existing (family owned) leadership. Customers joined forces with the employees en-masse. The company is an icon and in many ways a prime mover in the area due to their intense real-estate investment strategy. This multi-billion dollar business was brought to its knees in mere months. Shelves were empty, customers were taping competitor receipts onto the doors, it was doomsday. MA and NH attorneys general got involved after the new corporate CEO's threatened to fire 15,000 people. It was chaos. And it worked. The board sold the company to the CEO they fired for $1.5b and everything was back to normal within a day or two. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_Basket_(New_England) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_Basket_(New_England)

drb91 8y ago
Just this past month Stop & Shop workers struck and the company lost a lot of money before negotiating an end favorable to workers. This is effective. Upper class professionals are less likely to strike even though proportionally they are giving away far more of their surplus labor.
- zelon88 8y ago
  I think a part of it too is how well the company is regarded by the employees. Market Basket is a really good company to work for. They pay well and offer decent benefits, and they have profit sharing and immense bonuses. I worked there, once in high school and again afterwards for a while. My ex was management and brought home $8,000 worth of bonuses one year at Christmas. And that was on-top of profit sharing, which they permit hardship withdrawals from. Google pays well and is highly regarded in the industry. Those jobs are worth fighting for.
elliekelly 8y ago
Everything about the Demoulas family and Market Basket seems to be chaos yet they continue to make money. It's quite impressive really.

drb91 8y ago

Just this past month Stop & Shop workers struck and the company lost a lot of money before negotiating an end favorable to workers. This is effective. Upper class professionals are less likely to strike even though proportionally they are giving away far more of their surplus labor.

zelon88 8y ago
I think a part of it too is how well the company is regarded by the employees. Market Basket is a really good company to work for. They pay well and offer decent benefits, and they have profit sharing and immense bonuses. I worked there, once in high school and again afterwards for a while. My ex was management and brought home $8,000 worth of bonuses one year at Christmas. And that was on-top of profit sharing, which they permit hardship withdrawals from. Google pays well and is highly regarded in the industry. Those jobs are worth fighting for.

elliekelly 8y ago

Everything about the Demoulas family and Market Basket seems to be chaos yet they continue to make money. It's quite impressive really.