Why are workers at Whole Foods organizing unions at their stores?

 

By starting a union at Whole Foods stores, workers are able to negotiate contracts that give us higher wages, affordable healthcare, better schedules, a fair workload that doesn’t leave us burned out and job security. When we come together, we can establish a powerful collective voice in our stores that we can use to stand up for our needs, our families and our community.

 

With a union contract in place, workers have due process and elected, trained worker representatives, called shop stewards, to represent our interests. These shop stewards are workers inside our own stores.

 

If we have a problem, we can still independently go to management and try to resolve it without filing a formal grievance. However, if it doesn’t get resolved, we have a right to get another person involved and file a grievance. If necessary, a neutral judge, called an arbitrator, would force the company to correct an unfair action.

 

Quite simply, we’re forming unions at Amazon Whole Foods stores because together we have the strongest voice with Amazon Executive Chair Jeff Bezos and a giant corporation that is amassing billions of dollars in profits while many of us can’t even make rent.

 

What grocery store companies are unionized?

 

More than 835,000 workers are together in United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) at national employers like Kroger, Albertsons-Safeway, and Ahold-Delhaize, companies like Giant and Stop & Shop, and regional favorites like Raley’s, Piggly Wiggly, and ShopRite. 

 

What have other grocery workers won with their unions?

 

With their unions, grocery workers across the country have won contracts that give them living wages, balanced schedules, affordable health insurance, and better working conditions across the board. They’ve raised the bar for the value of their work, and they’ve turned their grocery jobs into excellent careers. 

 

We’re thrilled that we have the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of other union grocery workers and start a new chapter here at Whole Foods. Fill out the interest form to join us!

 

What if I like working at Whole Foods? Will having a union change things?

 

We have seen over recent years that Whole Foods has no problem taking away things like hours and benefits that brought us to work here in the first place. With a union contract, they can’t do that without bargaining with us over those changes first. 

 

And for the things that you don’t like about your store, you can propose a better system and negotiate your proposal with Whole Foods!

 

Essentially, there’s only room to grow upwards when you have a union. This is because you have the power to change what you want to change and protect the things you already like about your store. It’s the best of both worlds!

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How can I unionize my Whole Foods location?

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The best way to start a union at your Whole Foods store is to fill out the interest form and get in touch with a UFCW organizer!  We’re here to answer any questions you have about the process of starting a union. And, as you begin, visit our Union 101 library where we lay out all the best info to help you and your coworkers get organized.