Customers fund newspaper ads championing cause of ‘Artie T.’
By Mary Pat Rowland, Foster's Daily Democrat, Dover, N.H. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
The newspaper ads will be running this weekend after an ultimatum by the Market Basket board that all employees must return to work Monday or face dismissal.
Market Basket customers in
In
The GoFundMe page set up to pay for the
Since the GoFundMe account in
Bukowski, who has worked for the company for nine years, said she was "a little nervous" about being on the hook to pay for the advertisements, but hopes customers come through. She wants the public to know that the GoFundMe account is completely legitimate.
"I'm trying to get the word out," she said.
To access it, go to GoFundMe.com/ce6suk and search for NH/MEmbcustomerad.
The ads claim broad customer support for employees involved in the dispute over the firing of
The text of the red, white and blue newspaper advertisement reads as follows: "To the current CEOs of Demoulas Market Basket, Board of Directors, and Shareholders: A full boycott does not depend on Associates; it depends on CUSTOMERS. It is YOUR CUSTOMERS who are boycotting your stores. It is YOUR CUSTOMERS who bring in the money. It is YOUR CUSTOMERS who are your bottom line. It is YOUR CUSTOMERS who will not shop at Market Basket until Artie T. is back as CEO. It is YOUR CUSTOMERS who paid for this ad. #YouCantFireCustomersWeQuit".
Bukowski said she and her husband have both worked at Market Basket for years and have a personal stake in pushing for the reinstatement of Artie T.
"I owe my life to him and the lives of my two children," Bukowski said.
She started working there when she was just 17. While she was a young employee, she became very ill with irreversible liver disease. She was placed on a transplant list, but had a long wait ahead of her. She worked full-time for Market Basket and got health insurance benefits through the company's carrier,
Her health took a turn for the worse in 2003 when she contracted a blood infection. She was so ill, she could no longer work full time and feared losing her insurance. She penned a letter directly to
"You're my last chance," she wrote in the letter.
After receiving the letter, Demoulas decided to continue her insurance coverage. "If I could only work 10 hours that week, the company would take a portion of it to pay for my insurance," Bukowski said.
It was a lifeline she'll never forget. Eventually she received a liver transplant at the
She had more medical troubles when her two sons were born: her first-born was 10 weeks premature; the younger boy was 15 weeks premature. Her babies needed to be in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at
"They don't talk about it a lot. People don't know about the Demoulas family's generosity," she said.
Bukowski said she doesn't know how it will turn out, but believes customers are the key to resolving the boycott. "The customers are really leading," she said.
Bukowski's husband, who has worked for Market Basket for 26 years, worked 41 hours last week at the
"There's a lot of cleaning going on, too," Bukowski said. Workers are cleaning out the empty cases, spit shining everything and even painting.
And there are still some shoppers. "Not a lot, but some," Bukowski said. Most of them are elderly folks who rely on lower Market Basket food prices to get by, Bukowski said.
That, she said, she understands.
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(c)2014 the Foster's Daily Democrat (Dover, N.H.)
Visit the Foster's Daily Democrat (Dover, N.H.) at www.fosters.com
Distributed by MCT Information Services
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