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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Whole Foods Employees in Madison, Wisconsin Organizing a Union |
Current rating: 0 |
by IMC-Madison
Email: imc-madison (nospam) lists.indymedia.org (unverified!) |
26 May 2002
Modified: 11:37:00 PM |
Having gathered a majority of the workers at Madison's Whole Foods Store, representatives of Whole Foods employees and Local 1444 of the United Food and Commercial Workers presented store management with a request for union recognition on Thursday morning.
The request was refused. |
Whole Foods Workers to Management: Recognize our Union!
Sunday, May 27, 2002
On Friday afternoon, workers at Whole Foods picketed outside their store to demand union recognition. As Friday rush hour traffic passed along University Avenue, the employees held a press conference on the sidewalk.
While Whole Foods workers sent out press releases to all local media outlets, the Wisconsin State Journal didn't show up. Neither did the Capital Times. Nor did the local FOX, ABC, NBC, or CBS affiliates. In fact, the only media on the scene were IMC-Madison and Union Labor News reporters.
 High-bandwidth video / low-bandwidth video
 MP3 audio / real audio.
Whole Foods Workers and Supporters Picket for Recognition
Saturday, May 25, 2002
 A majority of the workers at Whole Foods on University Avenue have signed union cards indicating their support for the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) local 1444. Whole Foods managers, who in 1996 hung a banner on the building that read "Whole Foods supports the right of its workers to unionize, should they choose to do so," have begun a nasty unionbusting campaign.
 View photos from the demonstration.
Whole Foods Management Begins Anti-Union Campaign
Saturday, May 25, 2002
On Thursday night, the "new" management (about 7 regional staff have taken over) of Whole Foods Market began their anti-union campaign en masse. In typical union-busting fashion, workers were required to attend a meeting at which management refused to engage in any meaningful dialogue about the current unionizing campaign. Management told workers their side of the story for 30 minutes (reading from a script), with no room for questions. Then a question/answer session was held (but, of course, workers weren't required to stay for this - management obviously doesn't care if workers hear the other side of the story). Union supporters challenged management's assertions about the negative impacts of a union, to which management either did not respond or gave vague, unrelated, and misleading answers.
 Read the complete report.
Read about the relationship between Whole Foods Market Inc., anti-labor sentiment, and the B-1 Bomber.
Whole Foods Workers Organizing
Friday, May 24, 2002
 Having gathered a majority of the workers at Madison's Whole Foods Store, representatives of Whole Foods employees and Local 1444 of the United Food and Commercial Workers presented store management with a request for union recognition on Thursday morning.
The request was refused.
Workers will now file a petition with the National Labor Relations Board for a workplace election, most likely to be held sometime within the next six weeks. In the interim, Whole Foods Market, Inc. is expected to mount an aggressive campaign against the union drive. The photo above was taken in 1996, when Whole Foods displayed their sign of "support" when faced with picketing related to a unionization drive in another city.
According to an open letter from the Whole Foods Madison Organizing Committee:
The ridiculously high turnover rate, wages that are lower than the industry standard, pervasive lack of respect, constant understaffing, absence of a legally-binding grievance procedure, and other poor and unfair labor practices - all of which have led to widespread low morale - highlight the simple fact that workers ultimately have no say in the terms and conditions of their employment at any Whole Foods Market - not just Madison. Workers are not recognized or appreciated for their contributions. Instead, Whole Foods relies on worker apathy and lack of investment in their jobs to keep turnover high, and for the most part, wages, benefits, and other working conditions poor.
A rally for the Whole Foods organizational effort will take place Friday afternoon at the store.
www.WholeWorkersUnite.org
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See also:
http://www.WholeWorkersUnite.org
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Congratulations & Info request |
by Peter Miller
peterm (nospam) shout.net (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
26 May 2002
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Congratulations to all the workers and to the UFCW! Great job on filing the petition!
It's nice to know that managers act the same, whether at Wal-Mart (where similiar managerial 'hit squads' take over when union drives begin) or at stores for liberals, like Whole Foods.
I'd like to call Whole Foods and express my disappointment in their forcing employees to listen to their anti-union campaign. Does anybody have a phone number?
The AFL-CIO has a nice illustraiton of how the deck is stacked against workers who try to organize, http://www.aflcio.org/voiceatwork/elect2000.swf |
