Whole Foods Is Cutting Medical Benefits for 1,900 Part-Time Employees | Eater

"An Amazon-owned supermarket chain announced that, beginning in January, employees will need to work at least 30 hours per week to qualify for medical benefits, up from the current 20-hour threshold — a change expected to strip coverage from roughly 1,900 part-time workers (just under 2% of its ~95,000-person workforce). The company framed the shift as a move to better meet business needs and create more equitable, efficient scheduling, and said affected employees will be offered resources to find alternative health coverage or to pursue full-time, health-eligible positions; all team members will continue to receive a 20% in-store discount. The decision comes after the chain’s 2017 acquisition by Amazon and follows other cuts and staffing changes cited by employees — including elimination of stock options for lower-level staff and marketing layoffs — that critics say have eroded product quality and worker conditions. That backdrop, plus prior unionization efforts and a contentious labor climate across the grocery industry, has heightened concerns that the benefit rollback will intensify organizing and strike activity." - Jenny G. Zhang