The now rejuvenated atmosphere of Market Basket welcomes back customers with full shelves and high-spirits.
Restocked-produce hit the shelves early Thursday Sept. 4 and Market Basket employees of Swanzey, N.H. faced no shortage of customers.
As locals flocked to return to their beloved grocery store they were welcomed by an eager and excited staff.
Keene State College student and Market Basket employee, Jessica Jortberg, expressed her relief after her stressful experience with the protest.
“I was laid-off as a part-timer and I relied on my job. As a current student it was important that I was making some money,” Jortberg said.
Olivia Schiaffo / Equinox Staff
Jortberg, a five-and-a-half year employee of Market Basket, recalled her participation in the protest,“I would stand outside with other employees of my store holding signs asking for customers support, everyone would beep and cheer for the crowd protesting.”
The entire atmosphere surrounding Market Basket in the early weeks of September has been nothing short of appreciative.
The storefront displayed large red lettering that read “Thank you for your support.” Accompanied by the large letters was a picture of reestablished CEO Arthur T. Demoulas. Demoulas has made quite the ripple in the media realm recently, starting with his ousting from his CEO position early in June. The publicity created by many upset-employees ended with the $1.5 billion deal that put Demoulas in complete ownership of the grocery chain.
KSC student Chealsea Levesque is also returning to work at Market Basket. Levesque stated, “I can really tell the difference in the work environment, everyone seems happy to have Arthur back in charge.”
As Market Basket slowly re-adjusts back into regular schedule it is important to keep in mind the dedication of employees which fought to make this happen.
Maggie Glazzard, a Swanzey resident, commented about her experience protesting at the Market Basket headquarters in Tewksbury, Mass.
“It was a long and hot day but it was worth it and it clearly worked because we finally have our CEO back!,” Glazzard stated.
Olivia Schiaffo / Equinox Staff
During the weeks of protest Market Basket customers were forced to shop elsewhere. The large movement of customers caused an influx of business at other local grocery chains. Of these competitor chains Hannaford’s saw a particular increase, according to KSC student and Hannaford’s employee, Steve Doherty, who commented about the weeks of protest.
Doherty stated, “I work in the janitorial department at Hannafords—during the time of [the] Market Basket strike it was all out mayhem. Our managers had to hire 20-30 new employees, most of which were from Waterville, Maine.”
“They hired deli, bakery, produce, and front staff but failed to bring in additional maintenance which made my job a lot harder trying to maintain cleanliness with the high traffic of customers,” explained Doherty.
Market Basket employees are happily attending work again. The actions of Market Basket employees as a whole is something that has rarely been seen by an non-unionized labor force and distinguishes itself apart from various other labor protests.
Samuel Douglass can be contacted at sdouglass@keene-equinox.com
