As Merrimack Valley religious leaders plan an appeal to the warring Demoulas family to resolve the crisis engulfing Market Basket, protesting workers vowed to defy a deadline to return to their jobs today and criticized an order to remove store signs promoting a workers' fund.
Nearly 40 clergy have signed a statement for release this morning at the site of the first Market Basket in Lowell, as sale negotiations between the grocery chain's founding family continued.
"There are thousands of people being affected by this, especially the elderly and the lower-income families," said the Rev. Rafael Najem of Lowell's Community Christian Fellowship. "We are really using the old Kenyan proverb, 'When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.' With the current crisis...the grass in our cities and towns is being uprooted.."
Workers supporting the return of ousted CEO Arthur T. Demoulas — who's trying to buy Market Basket — said some 200 headquarters employees would remain picketing despite today's "final" deadline to return to work or be fired.
"We are still here and plan on being here tomorrow," said Tom Trainor, a fired senior employee who's helped organize the now-four-week workers' revolt that's deprived the chain's 71 stores of products and customers.
On the potential for workers to cross the picket line, deli manager Jon Dixon said, "You got to do what you got to do."
But some protesting workers shouted obscenities as fellow employees left the company's Tewksbury headquarters yesterday, and told them to "get a real job" and "bad move."
In an attempt to start getting stores back in order, Market Basket's new CEOs yesterday told store directors to maintain full-time employees' schedules and have them remove all signs, posters and other material not related to regular store operations — including boycott signs, pictures of Arthur T. Demoulas and signs promoting a fund benefiting warehouse workers and drivers that eclipsed $101,000 yesterday.
"It's one thing to pull down the signs," Trainor said. "It's another thing to pull down the references for the fund for the people out of work. That's pretty tacky."
Meanwhile, experts were split on Gov. Deval Patrick's decision last week to intervene in the dispute by offering mediation help.
Brian Jerome, of Massachusetts Dispute Resolution Services, questioned Patrick's call on Wednesday for workers to return to their jobs. "It's a little unusual for someone who's going to mediate the case to make recommendations in public," Jerome said.
But MIT professor Thomas Kochan said Patrick is right to get involved because it goes way beyond a family feud. "This is affecting a whole bunch of communities in the state and in New England," he said. "As the governor, he has a responsibility to protect the interests of the state."
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