Advertisement 'This is not about me,' ousted Market Basket CEO says Employees protest firing of beloved CEO Share Shares Copy Link Copy

A family feud over control over the Market Basket supermarket chain escalated Monday as thousands of employees and their supporters rallied at the company's headquarters for a second time and called for the reinstatement of their former chief executive.Watch reportMonday's rally was held outside a Market Basket in Tewksbury.Photos of empty shelves The Tewskbury crowd was made up of workers, their families and even customers. Speakers at the morning rally included many longtime employees, some who were fired Sunday for a work stoppage because of their opposition to the new leadership which has led to empty shelves in many stores."We need to boycott Market Basket, as difficult as that is to say and hear," said Joe Garon, who was fired."We all stick together, we will get our boss back. He's always had our back, we got to stay strong and have his," said Dean Joyce, a former warehouse operations director.Deliveries to Market Basket stores across the region stopped Friday as employees fight to have their former CEO reinstated. Arthur T. Demoulas was fired in June, spurring warehouse workers to walk off the job in protest.On Monday evening, Demoulas spoke publicly for the first time since the rallies began."The success of Market Basket is the result of two things: a business model that works and the execution of it by a dedicated and impassioned team of associates," Demoulas said in a statement. "Their fierce loyalty to the company and its customers has always been deeply valued. In the final analysis, this is not about me. It is about the people who have proven their dedication over many years and should not have lost their jobs because of it. I urge that they be reinstated in the best interest of the company and our customers."By Sunday, much of the produce, meat and fish were wiped out at the Chelsea location.Amine Djellouli had stopped in to buy vegetables."It is unbelievable, we don't see any food," she said. "I understand the strike -- people need decent pay and money. On the other hand, we are struggling to find food here for our families.""There's nothing in the store," said Haroon Sidiqi. "I don't know what's going on."Seventeen Massachusetts lawmakers called for a boycott of the regional supermarket giant."We, the undersigned, stand today with the thousands of Market Basket employees who have walked out of their jobs in protest of the firing of their beloved CEO Arthur T. Demoulas," the boycott document read, according to The Boston Globe.Attorney General Martha Coakley praised protesting employees Sunday, saying "workers deserve to be treated with respect and their voices deserve to be heard."Tom Gordon and at least seven other employees at the Market Basket corporate office -- terminated Sunday -- via letter -- in the wake of massive rallies."I opened (the letter) up, and it was a termination from Market Basket supermarket," he said.Shoppers told NewsCenter 5 on Facebook that they were also seeing empty shelves in West Bridgewater, Reading, Raynham and Hudson and Nashua, New Hampshire.Many people said they weren't familiar with the feud between employees and their corporate owners, but were disappointed that it was affecting their grocery-buying."There was no produce, the shelves were empty," one customer said. "It's too bad, it's a great store."