This Incredible Story Explains Why Market Basket Employees Are So Obsessed With Their Old CEO
Many of Market Basket's 25,000 employees began holding protest rallies after the company's board of directors fired Arthur T. in favor of his cousin, Arthur S. Demoulas, who employees fear will cut the generous profit-sharing and bonuses they have enjoyed under Arthur T.
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But Arthur T.'s significance to the estimated 700 workers who stopped showing up after his removal goes beyond the $12 an hour starting salary he offered them.
Workers say Arthur T. made himself a member of their families, and a new video published by PBS gives a perfect example of the devotion that has convinced employees to risk their jobs to get him reinstated.
In it, Market Basket office manager Mary Jane Findeisen tells the emotional story of what happened when Arthur T. came to visit her dying husband in the hospital this past May:
Here's the full transcript:
"My husband ended up going in the hospital in May, and unfortunately stayed there until he passed away in September. Arthur came down to the Mass General ICU, and visited my husband and held his hands, and sat there and thanked him for all the years of service. He took me aside and spent like a half an hour, 45 minutes with me, holding my hand and crying with me, and thanking me for everything my family has done. It means the world to me, so this is why I'm here."