Dear Board of Directors, Hello. My name is Susan Jussaume and I am writing to share my thoughts first as a wife and mother of long standing, dedicated employees of DeMoulas/Market Basket. I also write to you through the lens of a seasoned, caring, health care professional concerned about the thousands of families and several communities being affected by your recent decisions to change the leadership of Market Basket, bringing on riveting disturbances of the companys operation and business at all levels. If you have listened to and read the many stories and online postings from the Market Basket employees you would easily pick up common threads and themes which run throughout. Market Basket has been steadily built upon a solid mission and values of integrity, loyalty, dedication, fairness, consistent hard-work and a focus upon customer satisfaction. Additionally, outreach has been consistently given to the many communities where Market Basket store locations have established a home. Hospital CCUs and ICUs, Boys & Girls Clubs, Senior Centers, churches of different denominations, schools of all types and levels including colleges & universities, benefit from the presence and generosity of our company started under the initial leadership of Mr. Telemachus A. DeMoulas , and carried on and furthered under his son, Arthur T. DeMoulas. All this is threatened and set on a course of demise due to your recent voting and changing of our companys top business leadership. The family members behind the scenes of the hard-working dedicated men & women of Market Basket each have personal stories. There are many of us who have fully supported and sacrificed much in order to have our family members hold a position of responsibility with this company. Many family events happened with our loved ones necessarily absent, as they were building and running the Market Basket business. Many holiday and family celebrations needed to be put on hold until a time when our husbands, wives, or family members could be off from work to join us. Even mighty storms found some of us holding down the family fort on our own! When Hurricane Gloria roared through the New England region in 1985, my husband, Allan Jussaume Store Director needed to be at the store with his employees and customers making sure their needs were attended too and that business carried on. His dedicated leadership kept workers and customers calm and the store running orderly. By the time doors closed and workers and customers were safely in their homes, the winds and rains of Hurricane Gloria were too powerful for Allan to travel home and he needed to stay and monitor the store for any potential damages or refrigeration power outages. I was leading the charge by myself at the home front, keeping our small children safe as we rode out the storm without Allan at home. There was an understanding that we were both doing what was right and good despite our fears and concerns because others were depending upon us. I have 37+ years of stories I can share with you about my familys journey throughout our years at Market Basket, much too many for this posting. BUT, through it all, threads of dedication, loyalty, integrity for doing what is right & good - not just for self but for the many, was and continues to be the driving force. There are thousands of other wives and husbands and family members who can share their similar stories. WE who support our husbands, wives and family members have played a very strategic and significant role in the success of this company as well, would you not agree!? Now, for a few moments, I ask you to reflect upon YOUR role in the success and integrity of this company. How many hours have you spent in the stores? How many storms have you weathered while watching over a building to make sure customers and your employees were safe and goods were provided to them during a weather crisis? How many family events and holidays have you missed because business needed to be conducted, as a leader you needed to be there for the employees, customers, and for the overall success of our shared business? How many alarms have you responded to in the wee hours of the morning just after having completed a 16 hour work day?! You might argue that this lifestyle was our free choice, but, take note that this choice was made because people who love their families see a way to provide for themselves and their families and believe in the leadership who built this company…a leadership that worked side by side with all of us as WE built this company into the success it is today. In our Market Basket culture, we understand that each and every person is critical to our success. In your role on the board of Market Basket, upon what are you basing your business decisions? Self-serving reasons do not have room in the success of this company. We have succeeded and continue to succeed ALL TOGETHER upon those ethics and philosophies of business taught and modeled by the leadership of Mr. Telemachus DeMoulas and his son Arthur Artie T. DeMoulas. There are no secrets here. All of the BOD members and shareholders know who among them have worked tirelessly and with loyalty and dedication to this company, its mission and its foundational ethics. ALL of us count. Has each and every one of you considered this? Has each and every single shareholder considered this? Leadership and commitment will be required to weather out this enormous hurricane which YOU have created in our Market Basket company. Search your hearts and your minds and do what you know is right for all of us who have been so dedicated to this unique company. Restore the leadership of Mr. Arthur T. DeMoulas. Put a CEO in place who comes from within our ranks of men & women who has worked tirelessly with dedication and commitment from inside Market Basket, who understand our culture, who practice our ethics and who have a respect for all our workers at all ranks. I am one person raising my voice to ask you to respond with integrity and justice to ALL the people who built the success of this company, but I assure you thousands stand behind me to resonate this same request. Respectfully submitted, Susan M Jussaume, MS, APRN, FNP-BC, AHN-BC (Wife of Allan Jussaume, Store Director - 45 years of service, Mother of Adrianne Jussaume Richard, 10 years of service, Kathryn Katie Jussaume Destroismaison - 18 years of service, Allan Paul Jussaume - 12 years of service & Robert Jussaume - 8 years of service)
Posted on: Wed, 23 Jul 2014 14:46:39 +0000
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