Whole Foods Market workers seek better benefits, workplace safety

Susan Selasky, Detroit Free Press March 31, 2020

A grassroots group of workers at Whole Foods Market called for a nationwide sickout Tuesday to pressure its owner, e-commerce giant Amazon, for better benefits and more workplace safety practices.

Workers are seeking an increase in hazard pay, paid sick leave for workers who are isolated, health care for all and better sanitizing equipment.

It's unclear how the sickout was impacting the six Whole Foods Market stores in metro Detroit. The Free Press called the Whole Foods Market store in Detroit and Ann Arbor who referred requests to corporate offices.


A Whole Foods Market (Photo: AFP/Getty Images)

The company in a statement emailed to the Free Press said: "we have seen no changes to overall absenteeism and we continue to operate all of our stores without interruption."

“It is disappointing that a small but vocal group, many of whom are not employed by Whole Foods Market, have been given a platform to inaccurately portray the collective voice of our 95,000+ Team Members who are heroically showing up every day to provide our communities with an essential service," the statement read.

A global sickout originally was originally planned for May 1, but was reset for Tuesday as the pandemic worsened.

Grocery stores have been on the front lines amid the coronavirus outbreak. They are one of few businesses left open so people can shop for food and other items. But that also means being exposed to potential crowds. Employees come in contact with other employees as well customers.

The sickout was organized by a grassroots group call Whole Worker WFM. The group, according to its Twitter feed, is attempting to unionize the nationwide grocer which Amazon bought in 2017.

We call on all Whole Foods Market employees to engage in a mass sick out on:
🚨MARCH 31st🚨
We’ll be staging this sick out earlier than initially planned. Whole Foods employees are already getting sick. We must act NOW!https://t.co/jkA90NBJ5dpic.twitter.com/Z6ZaiZzhOm— Whole Worker (@WholeWorkerWFM) March 21, 2020

"COVID-19 poses a very real threat to the safety of our workforce and our customers," Whole Workers said in a petition at https://www.coworker.org/. "We cannot wait for politicians, institutions, or our own management to step in to protect us."

The Whole Foods Market in Midtown Detroit. (Photo: Terrence Antonio James, TNS)

Messages sent by the Free Press to Whole Workers WFM via Twitter were not answered.

When the coronavirus crisis started, Amazon announced an increase in pay of $2 an hour for workers, though it's temporary. It also offered two weeks paid time off for those quarantined or diagnosed with the virus.

The Whole Workers group is also calling for any location where a worker tests positive for COVID-19 to be shut down.

In its statement to the Free Press, the company said it has "rolled out extensive measures" to keep workers safe, including the extra pay and sick time.

"In addition to social distancing, enhanced deep cleaning and crowd control measures, we continue to implement new safety protocols in our stores and facilities, which includes the companywide roll out of daily temperature screenings for our Team Members and Prime Now shoppers that started this week."

The company faced backlash in early March over a memo that suggested employees donate paid time off to coworkers, according to vice.com,

On Monday, some Instacart shoppers nationwide participated in a one-day strike for some of the very same reasons.

Here's what Whole Worker WFM is seeking from Amazon for Whole Foods Market workers listed at https://www.coworker.org/. Whole Worker said these are are the "necessary resources for us to do our jobs safely."

Whole Worker also seeks to reinstate health care benefits that were cut for nearly 1,900 workers January 1, according to a CNBC report. Workers now need to work at least 30 hours, up from 20 hours previously to buy into its health care plan.

Here's some of the demands listed at https://www.coworker.org/:
Guaranteed paid leave for all workers who isolate or self-quarantine instead of coming to work.
Reinstatement of health care coverage for part-time and seasonal workers.
Increased FSA (flexible spending accounts) funds to cover coronavirus testing and treatment for all team members, including part-time and seasonal.
Guaranteed hazard pay in the form of double pay during our scheduled hours.
Implement new policies for social social distancing between workers and customers.
Ensure all locations have adequate sanitation equipment and procedures in place.
Immediate shutdown of any location where a worker tests positive for COVID-19. with all workers continuing to receive full pay until the store can safely reopen.

Contact food writer Susan Selasky at 313-222-6872 or sselasky@freepress.com. Follow @SusanMariecooks on Twitter.