By Shane Jones
Whole Foods Market is a supermarket chain that projects an image of having real "honest to goodness" values and compassion towards the community and its shoppers. They profess to have larger scale concerns, mostly focused on various environmental and social issues, and they even refer to their employees as "team members". Advertising to gain a certain part of market share is nothing new, and the "values" Whole Foods are trying to sell are part of their effort to make themselves appealing to their customers. But we all know that often, even the vilest snake oil is sold with a smile and positive praise from its salesman. It is also often the case that when the healing powers of the product being sold are found to be fraudulent, the salesmen is chased out of town or strung up! We all know that you should never judge a book by its cover – the "wholesome" image put forth by Whole Foods is no exception.
The real situation at Whole Foods and hundreds of companies like it is entirely different from the image they advertise. The daily experience of those working there makes the truth of the matter crystal clear as this letter from an employee to fellow workers shows:
"In the letter all team members received last week, we were told that Whole Foods Market has succeeded in creating an environment in which we work together as a team, where everyone respects one another, that part of the focus is providing a quality work environment, and that workers share in the success of the store. Yet we, the workers, have not been asked if we think the company has succeeded in creating this environment. And just as it is not up to corporate managers to decide whether it is meeting the needs of its workers, it is not up to Fortune Magazine either. It is up to the workers."
Workers everywhere are being squeezed on all fronts. In a time of a jobless "recovery" the average worker faces economic uncertainty and the accompanying stress engendered by this unstable situation. Being pushed further and further into a tight spot eventually forces the working class to react. Like the animal instinct of "fight or flight", the workers can only take so much before their limits are reached and they begin to fight back. Once the working class begins to move in this way, flexing its muscles and feeling its power, it can be transformed into an unstoppable force. This is well known by the bosses, as their own power rests uneasily upon the disorganization of the workers. They will do anything they can to prevent workers’ organization and class consciousness from growing.
Recent moves by Whole Foods reflect their vehement opposition to
allowing the workers from even beginning to organize for better wages and conditions in
their workplace. A vigorous anti-union campaign has been employed in an attempt to falsify
the role and nature of unions, discrediting them as "disruptive" and "a
scam". We all know what the real scam is - duping workers out of playing any
independent role in their daily lives! In conjunction with the anti-union propaganda
campaign there has been a string of firings and intimidations aimed directly at those
workers attempting to build support
for unionization (a legal right by the way!) This is how the company has proceeded since
workers in Madison, Wisconsin decided to unionize back in 2002.
It is a fundamental right of workers everywhere and in all occupations to unionize and to fight the bosses’ attempts to force the vast majority of humanity to a sub-existence of wage slavery. The Workers International League defends the right of the workers of Whole Foods and of all other workers to unionize! For improved wages and conditions, not corporate lies and union busting! For the right to unionize without the threat of job loss!
For more information on the unionization struggle of the workers of Whole Foods, visit www.wholeworkersunite.org.