Whole Foods Market
Grocery store · Rydal ·
Natural & organic grocery items, housewares, wine
Natural & organic grocery items, housewares, wine
"Organized by the grassroots collective Whole Worker, employees say it is impossible to properly follow social distancing in stores while interacting with customers, delivery shoppers, and coworkers, putting team members' lives at risk; the group reports at least two employee deaths and about 254 confirmed infections among staff. Workers are striking to press for protections first demanded on March 31, including guaranteed paid leave, health care for part-time and seasonal workers, and adequate sanitization equipment, and they say corporate policy gaps—like paid leave contingent on a positive test—make those protections insufficient." - Jaya Saxena
"A national supermarket often delivers orders in paper bags but still packages many individual items inside plastic (for example, bunches of bananas), and shoppers have been wary of using shared bulk scoops and containers in stores, leading some customers to prefer prepackaged options." - Lisa Held
"A major natural‑food grocery chain (now part of a large online retailer) that is contrasted with small independent shops in conversations urging consumers to direct purchases toward local cheesemakers; the piece suggests prioritizing smaller purveyors over this large chain to better support artisan producers and rural economies." - Anne Saxelby
"Workers staged a coordinated “sick out” to protest conditions that force employees to choose between staying home when ill and receiving a paycheck; while the company later offered policies like “unlimited call outs,” those absences are unpaid and paid sick time is reportedly only available to workers who test positive, making it very difficult for low-wage staff who live paycheck to paycheck to make the healthy choice." - Jaya Saxena
"Employees at this national grocery chain organized a March 31 “sick out” through an unaffiliated group to demand expanded paid sick leave, reinstatement of health care for part-time and seasonal staff, hazard pay, and immediate closure of any store where a worker tests positive. Management has relaxed attendance rules and announced up to two weeks’ pay for diagnosed or quarantined employees, a $1.6 million contribution to an emergency fund, “unlimited call outs” and temporary extra pay through April, but workers say call-outs are unpaid, initial eligibility required a hard-to-get positive test, payments are slow, and requests that employees donate PTO to one another leave many unable to quarantine without losing income — fueling the protest over what organizers describe as piecemeal, inadequate protections that prioritize short-term operations over worker and customer safety." - Jaya Saxena
