Meat may last 2 days, grocery items maybe a week

Standing above a picture of ousted CEO Artie. T. Demoulas, a speaker addresses a rally at the Market Basket headquarters in Tewksbury, Mass., on Friday. (Courtesy Tewksbury Patch)

ROCHESTER - Fish, meat, deli and produce offerings at Market Basket could be gone as early as Sunday, predicted an employee at the Milton Road store.

The employee, who didn’t want to be identified because he is not authorized to speak for the Rochester store, said when the shelves are empty, employees will spray them clean with a disinfectant and wait for further orders.

“We haven’t looked beyond that,” he said. “We’re hoping this gets settled before that happens.”

The employee was one of thousands who descended en masse on the Market Basket headquarters in Tewksbury, Mass., on Friday to rally for the return of their ousted leader, the beloved Arthur T. (Artie T.) Demoulas, who has been a longtime employee booster.

Arthur T. Demoulas, the architect of the 4 percent discount on most grocery store items through December 2014, has long been an advocate of profit-sharing and bonus programs that employees now fear will be stripped in the name of corporate profits.

Replacing Demoulas at the Market Basket reins are new co-CEOs Jim Gooch and Felicia Thornton, who told Artie T. supporters yesterday that they would forward their demands to the chain’s board of directors who are the only party with the authority to rehire the beloved former CEO.

The employees had demanded the return of Artie T. on Thursday or threatened a walkout on Friday, a promise hundreds made good on. The threatened walkout prompted a warning from Gooch and Thorton.

"If you choose to abandon your job or refuse to perform your job requirements, you will leave us no choice but to permanently replace you," Gooch and Thornton said in a prepared statement. "It is an individual decision whether you wish to continue to work at Market Basket."

According to The Sun of Lowell, the pair agreed to let two employees meet with them on Monday.

The Rochester store employee said he’s hoping this can all be worked out in the coming week. He doesn’t want to lose his job. He fears the Demoulas family will end up just selling the company.

Market Basket has 70 stores in New Hampshire and Massachusetts and one in Biddeford, Maine.