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Whole Foods

How Philly Whole Foods Workers Beat Bezos

February 4, 2025 Eric Blanc, Labor Politics. , , , , , ,
Can labor sustain its forward momentum under Trump? The first big test came last Monday, when Whole Foods workers in Philadelphia voted on whether to unionize with the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). Many in the labor movement were expecting a loss, since MAGA is now in office and since management — headed by Trump’s new billionaire buddy Jeff Bezos — went scorched earth against the nascent union effort. But a multiracial crew of young, self-organized, left-leaning workers proved the skeptics wrong, as so often has been the case since 2021.

Closures In Quebec Show Amazon Is Scared Of Workers Organizing

January 30, 2025 Pola Posen, Left Voice. , , , , , , , ,
The workers at a Whole Foods location in Center City, Philadelphia, voted to form the grocery chain’s first-ever union on Monday, marking an incredible victory for workers who have been organizing at the store for over a year. Whole Foods was bought by Amazon in 2017, and since then benefits, staffing levels, and working conditions have gotten worse. 130 workers voted in favor of unionizing with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW), while 100 voted against. Through the union, workers are demanding a living wage (the starting salary is currently only $16/hour), better benefits, and more protections.

Whole Foods Workers File for First-Ever Union, Defying Amazon

November 23, 2024 Kim Kelly, In These Times. , , , , ,
With a rich history stretching back to 1682, Philadelphia boasts the nation’s first library, its first hospital, its first daily newspaper, even its first zoo. Now, a tenacious group of grocery store workers wants to earn the City of Brotherly Love another accomplishment: the nation’s first unionized Whole Foods Market. On November 22, Whole Foods Workers United officially declared its intention to unionize with the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) Local 1776 and filed papers with the National Labor Relations Board. Since Amazon bought the company in 2017, Whole Foods has undergone a litany of changes — many, workers say, for the worse.

Whole Foods Is Quietly Telling Workers Not To Show Black Lives Matter Support

June 30, 2020 By Nicole Karlis, Salon. , , ,
This week, a group of Whole Foods workers in Cambridge, Massachusetts, walked out after being told they couldn’t wear Black Lives Matter masks because they weren’t part of “the company dress code.” Prior to the incident, wearing masks with other symbols or logos, including ones that featured the New England Patriots, were reportedly acceptable. This is according to a report in the Boston Globe, which details how Whole Foods worker Savannah Kinzer and a few of her colleagues wore BLM-themed masks on Wednesday. A manager told them they either had to remove the masks or go home. Seven of them walked out. On Thursday, Kinzer showed up and passed out more masks, but they were met with the same fate. Dozens of workers were sent home again.

Jeff Bezos Abruptly Cuts Health Benefits For Part-Time Whole Foods Workers

September 14, 2019 Eoin Higgins, Commondreams. , , ,
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos on Thursday cut benefits for part-time workers at his grocery chain Whole Foods, drawing criticism from the left for a move that could leave thousands of people without health insurance. "Jeff Bezos is the richest man in the world," Boston-based activist Jonathan Cohn said on Twitter. "This is disgusting." Business Insider reporter Hayley Peterson broke the story.  The decision will affect 1,900 of the business's 95,000 workers—the ones who work part-time, or around 20 hours a week. "We are providing team members with resources to find alternative healthcare coverage options, or to explore full-time, healthcare-eligible positions starting at 30 hours per week," a Whole Foods spokesperson told Peterson.

The Tech Employee Backlash, Whole Foods Edition

August 15, 2019 Staff, Technology Review , ,
A group of anonymous Whole Foods employees is calling out Amazon (which bought the supermarket chain in 2017) for working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). An open letter, posted via the group’s Twitter account, criticizes Amazon for providing cloud computing services to Palantir, a data analytics company that works for ICE, which has been cracking down on undocumented immigrants. The group, called Whole Worker, also asks Amazon to stop selling its facial-recognition technology, Rekognition, to law enforcement and demands that it stop business with “any other company involved in the continued oppression of marginalized groups.”

Regulators Should Block Amazon’s Acquisition Of Whole Foods

June 17, 2017 Nick Stumo-Langer, www.ilsr.org , , ,
By Nick Stumo-Langer for ILSR - In response to Amazon’s announced acquisition of Whole Foods, Stacy Mitchell, co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) and co-author of Amazon’s Stranglehold, made the following statement: “Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods raises significant anti-competitive issues that should be deeply concerning to federal antitrust regulators and the public. This deal would allow Amazon to leverage Whole Foods’ 444 U.S. stores in ways that would dramatically amplify Amazon’s online market power, by integrating these locations into its vast logistics and delivery network. And it would give Amazon, which already sells more clothing, books, toys, and consumer electronics than any other retailer, a substantial share of an even bigger consumer goods category, groceries. Regulators should block this acquisition.” ILSR’s recent report Amazon’s Stranglehold traced Amazon’s rapidly expanding reach and its impacts.

Whole Foods Represents The Failures Of ‘Conscious Capitalism’

June 5, 2017 Nicole Aschoff, www.theguardian.com , ,
By Nicole Aschoff for The Guardian - It’s hard to think of a better poster child for “conscious capitalism” than Whole Foods Market, the high-end grocery store that made a name for itself selling organic produce in feel-good, mood-lit stores. These days, the chain is floundering and a potential buyout is on the horizon. What does that say about the conscious capitalism it championed? Same-store sales have declined for six straight quarters, and Barclay analyst Karen Short estimates that 14 million Whole Foods customers walked away during the same period. Last month activist hedge fund Jana Partners swooped in, buying up 8.3% of the company’s shares and demanding an overhaul. Whole Foods responded by reshuffling its board, bringing in a handful of big box retail stars and promoting Gabrielle Sulzberger, who hails from private equity, to chairwoman. A failing firm isn’t exactly news. In the dog-eat-dog world of global capitalism lots of companies have their moment in the sun only to crash and burn a few years later. But Whole Foods was supposed to be different.

Whole Foods Said To Stop Selling Foods Made With Prison Labor

October 3, 2015 Allison Aubrey, www.npr.org ,
By Allison Aubrey for NPR - Whole Foods Market has announced that by April of next year it will stop sourcing foods that are produced using prison labor. The move comes on the heels of a demonstration in Houston where the company was chastised for employing inmates through prison-work programs. Michael Allen, founder of End Mass Incarceration Houston, organized the protest. He says Whole Foods was engaging in exploitation since inmates are typically paid very low wages. "People are incarcerated and then forced to work for pennies on the dollar — compare that to what the products are sold for," Allen tells The Salt.

Whole Foods Union-Busting

June 6, 2014 Chris Lehmann, www.inthesetimes.com , , , ,
Don't look now, but Whole Foods seems to be interpreting the “whole planet” part of its corporate branding as a Manifest Destiny-style call to market conquest. In an exhaustive Fortune magazine cover story this April, “Whole Foods Takes Over America,” Beth Kowitt explained that the high-end grocer has quietly bulked up into one of America’s leading retail food chains, with plans to operate 1,200 stores over the next few years (counting stores in the UK and Canada). The chain has seen its revenues double and its profits triple since 2007, Kowitt reports, and has lately taken to launching new stores in low-income shopping areas, such as Detroit, Newark and the South Side of Chicago. On one level, it’s heartening that more choices to purchase quality, non-industrial food have penetrated into lower-income neighborhoods. However, Whole Foods is far from a model of progressive values. Founded and run by John Mackey, a recovered hippie and especially dogmatic libertarian in the Randian grain, the chain has notoriously lowballed health benefits and campaigned to crush anything resembling a union organizing drive among its more than 70,000 employees. “The union is like having herpes,” organic baron Mackey infamously announced. “It doesn’t kill you, but it’s unpleasant and inconvenient, and it stops a lot of people from becoming your lover.”
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