Former executives remain defiant after firing – NBC Boston

Two longtime Market Basket executives, who were on leave for months and then fired amid the corporate shakeup at the beloved supermarket chain, are planning to speak out Wednesday about what they’re calling the “supposed independent investigation” that led to their terminations.

Joe Schmidt, the company’s operations director, had spent 39 years with the company and Tom Gordon, its grocery supervisor, had been with Market Basket for 50 years. Both began working at Market Basket as teenagers.

The Market Basket Board of Directors claimed Wednesday that the two senior executives have been making false public statements about their recent firing, saying in a statement that Schmidt and Gordon were terminated for “insubordination, making false and derogatory remarks about the company and people associated with it, and inappropriate communications with colleagues.”

The Board went on to say that the pair was originally suspended with pay on May 28 following allegations that they were encouraging a widespread work disruption that would have echoed the employee walkout and vendor and customer boycott in 2014 that cost the company over a half billion dollars.

The two former executives have denied any plans for a work stoppage, and have been outspoken about how they believed this was a succession plan by Artie T’s relatives. At a press conference Wednesday, they said the firings are an effort to silence them and undermine the current company culture.

“This is about the culture of the company, the associates of the company, and the customers, and all the suppliers that support the company on a day-to-day basis. Mr. Demoulas’s philosophy is that the shareholders benefit at the end of that order. And that’s worth standing up for,” Schmidt said.

Schmidt also denied allegations of insubordination and said that to his understanding, management does not report to the Board – the CEO does.

“If somebody thinks that either Mr. Gordon or myself are just going to go away at this point without standing up for the culture of the company for a period of time, they’re sorely mistaken. I’m not going anywhere and neither is he,” Schmidt said.

Gordon described his termination as “very disheartening” and said he was not ready to give up on the possibility of a resolution.

“We’re going to try to get back inside. We’ll see how that works out,” Gordon said.

Schmidt went as far as to call for three members of the board – Jay Hachigian, Steven Collins, and Michael Keyes – to resign, alleging

“In my opinion, the board of directors all three of them – Hachigian, Keyes and Collins –  they should all resign from their position. What they’ve done is a tremendous disservice to this organization,” Schmidt said.

Clues are trickling out about what’s going on behind the scenes at the supermarket chain, but a month after its CEO was put on leave, there still is so much uncertainty about what will happen next.

According to the Board’s statement, their recent investigation yielded evidence that Schmidt and Gordon were planning a work disruption to show support for suspended CEO Arthur T. Demoulas, including instances of allegedly directly encouraging employees to slow down and disrupt operations, and to defy their supervisors.

They allegedly ignored warnings to stop pressuring Market Basket associates and visited stores in Rochester and Salem, New Hampshire, despite instructions to stay off Market Basket premises during the investigation, the Board said.

The Board alleges that Gordon and Schmidt have spent weeks “waging an unauthorized media campaign disparaging Market Basket and its Board, through multiple interviews” in which they both made “numerous false statements about the company and its’ leadership.”

One example the Board included in its statement was a comment by Gordon this month to NBC10 Boston about a longtime district supervisor’s suspension: “It’s a shame that this great company is being tossed into this turmoil over what seems like a succession plan.”

Schmidt said he stands by the statements he’s made in the media and that the board is trying to spin a narrative.

The Board concluded its statement by saying Gordon and Schmidt had to know that their behavior would lead to this result.

Gordon and Schmidt did previously tell the Boston Business Journal that they expected to be fired.

We walk through the New England company’s humble beginnings as a Greek market in Lowell, its expansion and the friction within the Demoulas family.

Artie T. called their firings “heartless” and “unwarranted,” saying Schmidt and Gordon “are just collateral damage in this pre-planned coup.”

“In addition to being men of strong character, these are two of the brightest and best grocery store operators in the business, and their extraordinary work has been key to building this company and its culture,” Artie T. said in a statement. “This is among the worst decisions that could be made by this board.”

“Steven Collins of Exeter Capital doesn’t understand this company’s culture. Nor do his fellow board members Jay Hachigian of Gunderson Dettmer and Michael Keyes of Intercontinental Real Estate,” he added. “To them, Tom, after 50 years with the company, and Joe after 39 years, are easily cast aside. They are just collateral damage in this pre-planned coup. To Market Basket, Tom and Joe are part of the heart and soul of the company and key executives in its immense success to date.”

Schmidt and Gordon are both “men of integrity and honor” who “belong on the Market Basket team,” Artie T. said.