Again? A Decade After Protests and Boycotts Market Basket Seems to be in Disarray

Above, screen shot from WMUR..

The board of directors at Market Basket on Wednesday placed CEO Arthur T. Demoulas and unnamed other employees on paid administrative leave while investigating "credible allegations" that the leader of the Merrimack Valley grocery chain, which has a branch in Bellingham, was planning a work stoppage.

In the latest twist in a decades-long saga, the board's executive committee alleged that Demoulas and others were preparing to disrupt business operations "as improper retaliation" for board directives.

The CEO and board also appear to be feuding over succession planning for the famous local chain, with the board contending in a press release that Demoulas believes "he has the unilateral right to appoint his children to succeed him without any consideration of the view of the Board or the majority owners of Market Basket."

Demoulas will receive his full salary and share in company distributions while he is on leave. Company officials said workers will not experience any salary or benefit changes, and a popular profit-sharing plan -- a point of contention in prior Market Basket fights -- will remain in place.

The Demoulas family founded Market Basket, which now has 90 stores, decades ago in Lowell. Over the years, family factions have fought over control of the company in court and in the public arena.

In 2014, the board removed Arthur T. Demoulas -- a popular figure among workers -- prompting a massive backlash including walkouts, protests and boycotts. That kerfuffle ended with Arthur T. and siblings buying out their cousin, Arthur S. Demoulas.