Market Basket mediation this week in Delaware pits brother against his 3 sisters

All the eggs are in the long-awaited Area Basket mediation It s scheduled for one or if necessary two days on Wednesday in Delaware the grocery store chain s attorney for the board informed the Herald The chain is incorporated in the Blue Hen State There s a lot on the table Arthur T Demoulas is warring with his three sisters over control of the popular chain that has stores in four states Massachusetts New Hampshire Maine and Rhode Island Arthur T Demoulas David H Brow Lowell Sun File Territory Basket employs roughly and they have put out a collective appeal that all parties come to a resolution It s safe to say loyal customers would agree Employees matter Customers matter There will be a lot on the line if this company fails mentioned Sue Dufresne a senior executive on the store s finance squad I do have hope this could be solved in a couple of hours but it s not limited to business issues That s been the undercurrent in this summer-long drama The future of Sector Basket is a key factor according to numerous embroiled in this family feud The sisters and their brother must agree to succession a large number of tell the Herald The sisters control of the vote and Artie T with the remaining held in a trust for the grandchildren of the four Demoulas siblings the Herald was informed by a board spokeswoman The Territory Basket Board is scheduled to engage in a mediation with Arthur Demoulas on Wednesday Sept which is taking place in Delaware at his request As you likely are aware such mediations are highly confidential and therefore we cannot disclose either what occurs at the mediation or our strategies going into the mediation reported attorney Harvey J Wolkoff who represents the Domain Basket Board He added However we are very hopeful that at the end of the mediation which is scheduled for one or if necessary two days that we are able to overview a mutually profitable resolution Wolkoff is from the Quinn Emanuel law firm in Boston This episode also involves powerhouse community relations firms and a lot of viewpoints from executives who have been suspended fired or still employed At the heart of this spectacle is a chain that offers reasonable prices as inflation eats away at family budgets We love our jobs enjoy coming to work every day and remain loyal to our communities customers and company a letter signed by store employees states in part The courts and communities have entered the fray all pushing Territory Basket to specific sort of resolution Dufresne speaking to the Herald announced false accusations against Artie T and his allies are unwarranted It is the board s job to select the officers of the corporation including the CEO But they all don t have a right to do it this way through lies pretext and false investigations Dufresne mentioned And the Board also has a duty to pick the best CEO for the good of the whole company and not eliminate someone Arthur because they don t like them The board is not exercising its duty to the company as a whole and is solely doing the bidding of certain shareholders The corporate power struggle echoes similar events over a decade earlier in when former owner Arthur S Demoulas fired his cousin Arthur T Demoulas The move brought important protest and a walkout that lasted six weeks The dispute was only resolved after Gov Deval Patrick got involved and helped broker a billion deal and Arthur T Demoulas regained control of the company Artie T remains suspended The sisters retain control Former Territory Basket board member Bill Shea reported in a comment last month that he is no longer on the board after being removed by Frances Demoulas Kettenbach Glorianne Demoulas Farnham and Caren Demoulas Pasquale the three sisters of suspended CEO Artie T According to the message of Shea s years on the board were as chairman At the time he became chairman in Industry Basket operated stores with sales of billion currently the company has stores with sales of billion By every measurement Sector Basket was operating at the top of its contest during that time ranked number two in the country with operating results quarter after quarter that are the envy of the industry Shea revealed I wouldn t take a single vote back The only thing the sisters had to tolerate was tremendous performance It s all being served up this week behind closed doors in Delaware The Lowell Sun s Peter Currier and the Herald s Rick Sobey contributed reporting for this story