Center City Whole Foods workers vote in favor of unionizing

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Grocery store workers are expected to hustle during emergency situations, like hours before a snowstorm hits when customers are trying to stock up on supplies.

“When the forecasters say there’s going to be snow, our members rise to the occasion. They go into sprint mode, they will work more hours and get more done,” said Wendell Young, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1776.

The union represents about 35,000 workers, mostly across Pennsylvania, of which 65% work in supermarkets. But the work culture of Amazon means its Whole Foods Market grocery store at 2101 Pennsylvania Ave. in Philadelphia is operated at a relentless pace all the time, Young said.

“Amazon wants you to do it every day, seven days a week. And your body can’t take it physically and emotionally, they’re breaking people,” he said. “That’s what’s really different here and these workers have seen that.”

Preliminary union election results on Monday night showed that out of nearly 300 eligible workers, 230 cast ballots, 130 voted in favor of the union and 100 voted against it.

This vote isn’t just about workers asking for higher wages — like at least $17 an hour, affordable health care benefits with minimal premiums or better retirement packages. Young said there’s an extra layer of consternation with billionaire owner Jeff Bezos.

The Center City store is on track to become the first in the U.S. to unionize. The National Labor Relations Board still needs to certify the results and will give Amazon the opportunity to challenge any ballots during the process. Organizers said they worry the NLRB’s appointees under a Donald Trump presidency will be anti-union.

In November, workers at the Center City Whole Foods Market filed paperwork for a union election. Since then, Young said employees at other Whole Foods locations have contacted local unions about doing the same.

If the unionization effort had failed, organizers said they would have tried again next year.

Big changes with Amazon in charge

Whole Foods Market was once a publicly traded company with different employee policies on the books, workers said in union campaign materials.

For example, Whole Foods Market employees had more benefits, such as gainsharing, a process where under-budget teams can get bonuses out of the savings, stock options, holiday bonuses, a human resources representative on site and health care options for part-time workers.

That’s when Whole Foods Market co-founder John Mackey was still the CEO.

But in 2017, Amazon acquired Whole Foods Market for $13.7 billion by taking the publicly traded company private.

Since Amazon took over, workers say their long-standing attendance policy was replaced with an unpaid time-off policy that’s criticized as a wage theft mechanism, according to the union. Workers also complained about a lack of communication.

Amazon does offer restricted stock units for eligible employees, such as store and facility team leaders.

The Whole Foods Market company declined an interview for this story and submitted a statement.

“At Whole Foods Market, we remain committed to listening to our team members, making changes based on their feedback, and treating all of our team members fairly in a safe, inclusive working environment, while providing them with career advancement opportunities, great benefits, and market competitive compensation,” the company said. “Whole Foods Market recognizes the rights of our team members to make an informed decision on whether union representation is right for them. We believe a union is not needed at Whole Foods Market and agree with the overwhelming majority of our team members who value our open door policy and our ability to quickly respond to the needs of our workforce.”

Both full- and part-time employees at the Center city store, including team members, team trainers, order writers, non-management supervisors and store scanning specialists, could vote.

That doesn’t include store team leads, associate team leads, store trainers, team leaders, assistant team leaders, office and clerical workers, security guards, managers and supervisors categorized as management.

Union takes on the retail giant

“Since going public, we have been met with a relentless onslaught of union-busting tactics,” Leeya Girmey, a Whole Foods Market worker in Philadelphia, said in a video shared to Instagram from a union rally this month.

The UFCW Local 1776 has collected more than 30 complaints from unionizing store workers about intimidation and coercion so far.

Young said the Center City Whole Foods Market has fired some unionizing employees, intimidated rank-and-file workers and held captive audience meetings at the store.

In late December, organizers said Amazon told workers they weren’t allowed to give them raises to $17 an hour like other Philadelphia-area stores.

“The company says it’s because of the [union] push, that they’re not allowed to give an increase and that’s not true. They used it to intimate people,” Young said.

Right now, there’s no standardized starting pay at the store. Some workers earn less than $16 an hour, and others earn nearly $17 an hour.

“We want a living wage. If you’re going to commit to working full-time, it means you’re not going to be able to do other work on the side, so you deserve to make a lot more than $17 an hour,” Young said.

Another goal is affordable health care, with minimal premiums that require little out-of-pocket costs.

There’s another Whole Foods Market near the corner of 9th and South streets in Philadelphia. In the suburbs, there are stores in Jenkintown, Spring House, Plymouth Meeting, Wynnewood, Wayne and Newton Square.