The director of the only Market Basket store in Maine wrote to the company’s co-chief executive officers Saturday and asked them to resign to clear the way for ousted CEO Arthur T. Demoulas to return.

Meanwhile, three members of Market Basket’s board of directors pressed the feuding shareholders to resolve their dispute to help the beleaguered supermarket chain resume normal operations.

Micum McIntire, who runs the Biddeford store, said the co-leaders, James Gooch and Felicia Thornton, who were appointed after Demoulas was ousted, could step aside with what he called “Golden Parachutes” and be well-off financially. Instead, he said the turmoil at Market Basket was costing workers their livelihoods.

“Do the right thing: step aside and resign so we can begin the process of rebuilding our company,” McIntire wrote in what he called an open letter to the two executives.

The letter was posted at the entrance to the Biddeford store.

The three directors said Saturday that 25,000 workers and 2 million customers “shouldn’t be held hostage for a business deal between shareholders.”

Their statement came a day after Demoulas rejected an offer from the directors to let him and his former management team help restore normal operations, but not take control.

A spokeswoman for Demoulas called the offer an attempt to have him stabilize the company while they consider selling it to another bidder. Demoulas had offered Sunday to return as CEO while sales talks continue.

Demoulas was fired in June by the board, which has been controlled by his rival cousin, Arthur S. Demoulas.


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