Full-timers clean, wait, hope and clean some more

TALE OF THE TAPE: Hannaford's so far has been the big winner in the family feud between Arthur T. and Arthur S. (Lebanon Voice/Harrison Thorp photo)

ROCHESTER - Kevin Demasky of Rochester, a 28-year employee of Market Basket, pointed with pride at his latest accomplishment as a manager at the Milton Road store.

“See under that bottom counter,” he said on Thursday. “That used to have seven coats of wax buildup. It took a long time to get it clean. I couldn’t get all the way under, but I got most of it.”

As the job action and customer boycott enters its fifth week, most analysts feel the corporation could be on the verge of collapse, while employees hope that rumors of an impending sale to ousted CEO Arthur T. Demoulas could be in the offing.

“Let’s hope,” said Demasky.”We’re all beginning to get tired of looking for things to do.”

Managers formerly in charge of hundreds of full- and part-time workers ringing up hundreds of thousands of dollars a day in sales are now on their hands and knees scraping detritus off linoleum beneath empty shelves in a store with no customers.

“The few customers that come in here apologize,” Demasky said. “They say they can’t afford to go to a different market, because our prices are lower. And we understand. We tell them it’s OK.”

Demasky said a trickle of perishables came in this week: butter, cheese, some yogurt, many with expiration dates in September.

“When their times up, we’ll throw them away like we’ve  been doing all along,” he said.

Demasky said a tiny percentage of deliveries continue to be made, but most trucks bring in three or four pallets of product when they have room for 22.

A truck made a delivery to one store this week with no product, he added ruefully.

Meanwhile, the war between feuding cousins Artie T. and Arthur S. Demoulas took on a new ripple this week as it came to light that Belgium corporation Delhaize (parent company of Hannaford’s) may be the most serious rival bid to Artie. T’s and that inside connections between Arthur S. advisory group J.P. Morgan and Delhaize are disturbingly real.

“Jim Gooch (current Market Basket co-CEO), two members of the Delhaize board including the chairman, JP Morgan and the MB Board’s independent members are each closely linked with each other,” a blog on wearemarketbasket.com reported Tuesday. “If ATD’s offering price is pre-crisis as has been reported, Delhaize wouldn’t still be in the running if theirs wasn’t in the same ballpark. Why would they be offering a premium bid for a business that has crumbled? Why have they not lowered or withdrawn their bid?”

The blog posts are underscored by reports of overpayments to many vendors totaling millions of dollars, which leads some to think current Market Basket executives under Arthur S. may be trying to scuttle the ship and lower the corporation’s worth for an easier takeover by Delhaize.

Not only is the company hemorrhaging money by paying hundreds of full-timers manning empty stores, but now it appears its hemorrhaging money from the inside, too, with dubious overpayments and questionable accounting.

Many insiders and Rochester workers alike had set today as the deadline when something has got to give.

Demasky and a group of full-timers still at their posts inside an empty store expressed cautious optimism it will go their way.

And frustration if the stalemate continues.

“Finding stuff to clean is getting old,” said one worker.