Profile in Cowardice: Gov. Deval Patrick refuses to take a stand in Market Basket dispute
Market Basket workers want the company's long-time CEO Arthur T. Demoulas to be reinstated in his position. By all accounts, Arthur T. has put both employees and customers over profits during his long-time tenure, an anachronism in a new American corporate environment owned by Wall St. and managed by MBAs.
However, he was sacked as CEO by the side of the Demoulas clan which owns a 51% controlling interest of the company board -- a side led by his cousin, Arthur S. Demoulas. Arthur S. replaced Arthur T. with two corporate executives, each of whom have long experience in firing employees, cutting benefits, and running businesses into the ground.
True to form, the new CEOs have commenced mass layoffs of protesting workers (while simultaneously holding a job fair).
Here's what Gov. Deval Patrick's Democratic rivals in the MA governor's race have to say about the situation:
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2014/08/06/patrick-hopes-market-basket-worker-revolt-gets-resolved-soon/
Candidate Don Berwick said he supports the boycott of the supermarket.
“I’m supporting the workers, I think what they’ve done is courageous. They’re standing up for the kind of management atmosphere that they want to have,” Berwick said.
When asked about Market Basket, state Treasurer and gubernatorial candidate Steve Grossman said “it’s not a question of taking sides.”
But when questioned further, he added, “I think the boycott is an entirely appropriate vehicle for people to express their displeasure with management that seems to be mistreating its workers and certainly is mistreating its customers.”
While sympathetic to the workers, Attorney General Martha Coakley, also a Democratic candidate, remained noncommittal about the boycott.
“I certainly think that consumers are making that choice,” she said. “I support that people have the right to choose. If people want to boycott they are entitled to do that.”
And here's Gov. Patrick weighing in:
Gov. Deval Patrick said Wednesday he hopes the employee revolt at Market Basket “gets resolved soon.”
Patrick has refused to take sides in the dispute and repeated his stance.
“Getting involved, I think, would mean choosing the CEO of a private company. I don’t think that’s the business of the governor. But I do want peace at Market Basket and in the economy generally,” the governor told reporters.
“It’s a terrible hardship for the people who work there and a terrible hardship for the people that the company serves.”
Patrick apparently forgot to add something to his statement: his wife is a partner in the Market Basket board's law firm.
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Governor, BOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
