From: Progressive Media Project (pmproj@progressive.org)
Date: Tue Jul 16 2002 - 13:29:35 EDT
Web Exclusives
Editor Matthew Rothschild comments on the news of the day.
July 9, 2002
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Whole Foods Unionized
On July 12 in Madison, Wisconsin, the first Whole Foods store was
successfully unionized. By a vote of 65 to 54, workers opted for a
union, despite a management push to convince them otherwise.
Whole Foods has more than 130 stores around the country, and even
though it sells organic products, caters to a vaguely progressive
crowd, and espouses a groovy philosophy, management is staunchly
anti-union and has resisted union drives at other stores.
The organizers at the Madison store expressed a "deep desire to
better the workplace conditions at Whole Foods. . . . Workers are
faced with constantly changing and unevenly implemented policies and
practices," stated a May 23 open letter from the organizing
committee. One issue was management's imposition of a dress code,
including the banning of visible body piercings and studs.
In the days leading up to the vote, management forced employees to
attend meetings where the company showed videos and gave
presentations bashing the idea of unions, warning employees about how
much money the union would cost them, and, allegedly at one session,
showing a slide urging employees to "Vote No."
"They went to great lengths to say the union was spending its members
dues on remodeling and buying cars for union reps," said Debbie
Rasmussen, one of the union organizers.
Two days before the vote, John Mackey, the CEO and founder of Whole
Foods, flew to Madison in a last-ditch effort to fend off the union
drive. At a final mandatory evening meeting with employees, Mackey,
who has likened unions to herpes, apologized for any bad local
management and asked for another chance.
But the workers, buoyed by a rally of more than 100 Madison
supporters that afternoon, held their ground. With their vote on July
12, they affiliated with the United Food and Commercial Workers.
"This is the first Whole Foods store in the country that has ever
gotten so far as a union election and won," says Diana Solberg,
organizing director of UFCW Local 1444, which represents the Madison
shop. "It's a great stride in organizing that chain."
The successful union drive "has national significance," says David
Newby, head of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO. "The Madison workers have
contacts in most of the other Whole Foods stores, and so it's very
likely that serious organizing campaigns will be in a lot more stores
all over the country."
Newby also hails the new leadership of the Whole Foods organizers.
"Most workers at the Madison store are in their early to
mid-twenties, and it is significant that this generation, like so
many before it, saw organizing a union as the solution to their
frustrations," he said. "They organized from the inside, with a high
level of participation. This organizing drive is a model for a
resurgent labor movement."
"We are surprised and disappointed," said Kate Lowery, public
relations director for Whole Foods headquarters in Austin, Texas. "We
firmly believe that with our new regional and store leadership in
place, our Madison team members would have soon realized our firm
commitment to our founding core values that include team member
excellence and happiness."
Whether Whole Foods contests the election, or whether it drags out
negotiations over many, many months, remains to be seen.
When the Madison store opened in 1996 to much controversy over the
anti-union reputation of Whole Foods, local management hung a banner
in front of the store, declaring, "Whole Foods supports the right of
its workers to unionize should they choose to do so."
Now they've so chosen, and it's up to management at Whole Foods to
make good on its pledge.
In the meantime, workers at other Whole Foods stores should take
note: It is possible to win representation on your shop floor.
And labor supporters around the country should take heart: There's a
chink in the armor of this groovy anti-union firm.
-- Matthew Rothschild
-- Molly McGrath Development Directorpmproj@progressive.org (608) 257-4626 phone (608) 257-3373 fax
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Mon Oct 28 2002 - 02:52:33 EST