Whole Foods Workers Win First-Ever Union, Defying Amazon (Updated)

[Omaha Steve]

https://inthesetimes.com/article/whole-foods-union-philadelphia

Workers in Philadelphia say they’re tired of being treated like robots.

Kim Kelly November 22, 2024

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.

Update: Preliminary election results released January 27 showed that workers voted in favor of a union, 130 to 100.

Since Amazon bought the company in 2017, Whole Foods has undergone a litany of changes — many, workers say, for the worse. The checkout area is heavily surveilled to account for increased self-checkout (which in some stores includes a palm-scanning biometric option) and as demand for delivery orders has skyrocketed, so has the infrastructure to support it, including bringing in an army of delivery drivers and shoppers who compete with workers and regular customers for aisle space. Amazon has also attempted to integrate its own grocery brands into Whole Foods, and is debuting robot-run ​“mini warehouses” to encourage customers to buy more of its conventional products. Its thirst for profits and quest to dominate the grocery market has led the company to expand at a rapid pace. Meanwhile, workers struggle to keep up.

“The store operates chronically understaffed,” says Piper, who has worked as a customer service operator at Whole Foods for the past three years and asked that her last name be withheld for fear of employer retaliation. ​“I can only speak for my team specifically, but we’re exhausted from trying to meet these unrealistic productivity metrics, especially the Items Per Minute quota for cashiers. We’re told to ring as fast as possible to get customers in and out — as if we’re robots.”

FULL story at link above.

[NJCher]

1. First

Happy to hear this.

Second, the last 2 paragraphs describe exactly what I’m seeing at the two WFs around here.

They are gigantic stores, constantly in action with the shopping service, etc.
yes, the staffing is minimal, but they are generally good natured and happy to help if you ask.

UNLIKE the ShopRite, where they will lie to your face and tell you crystallized ginger is a seasonal item when anyone knows that would be absurd.