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A group of Whole Foods Market workers is trying to form a union, seeking better compensation and benefits, and accusing that conditions have deteriorated since Amazon bought organic groceries last year.
In an email sent Thursday to Whole Foods employees, union campaign organizers said layoffs and store clusters had endangered the livelihoods of employees, and there was a good chance that happen. The group proposed to require, among other benefits, a minimum wage of $ 15 per hour, better pension benefits, paid maternity leave and lower health insurance costs.
"The success of Amazon and (Whole Foods) should not be at the cost of exploiting our dedication and the threat of our economic stability," the authors wrote.
We do not know how much this letter was shared within the company. The Wall Street Journal, which reported the email and union campaign earlier Thursday, said the plan was to send employees to most of the 490 Whole Foods stores.
The leaders of Whole Foods, one of the largest US grocers without union representation, have long described their workplace policies as generous and said employees have a direct line with their leaders, a company spokeswoman said. .
"We are not as much a union as a union," said Whole Foods founder and CEO John Mackey, citing the company's high ratings for the best places to work.
But the sale of Austin, Texas, to Amazon, last year, opened the door to union labor, activists say. $ 13.5 billion deal puts crisp work culture – corporate values include worker happiness and community service – under Amazon's umbrella, a demanding workplace known for its obsession and expertise in efficient and technological capitals.
Amazon has resisted previous attempts by its workers to organize. The company has become a more important target for the labor movement, as the rapid expansion of Amazon's warehouse network has helped make Seattle the second-largest private sector employer in the US, behind Walmart, with approximately 575 000 employees.
The experience of Amazon employees has been the subject of public debate recently after Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders criticized the company for treating its store employees, citing years of media reporting. . Amazon, which said last week that Sanders' claims were inaccurate in a rare public reaction to outside criticism, asked social media to defend their working conditions, by giving more than a dozen employees their experience. personal in warehouses. was uniformly positive tones.
Some Amazonian employees are represented by unions in Europe, where workers over the past year have been holding strikes parallel to the peaks of the shopping season, such as Amazon's Prime Day promotion and Black Friday. .
Robin Kelly, a spokesperson for Whole Food, said in an email that the company respects the individual rights of its employees. "We offer competitive salaries and we are committed to the growth and success of our team members," she said.
The union of retailers, wholesalers and department stores, which has been communicating for years with Whole Foods and Amazon workers, is aware of the Whole Foods campaign, said a spokesman for the union's affiliate. AFL-CIO.
"Amazon is raising a generation of precarious workers, and that's against everything our union represents," said Stuart Applebaum, president of RWDSU, in a statement sent via email. "We will not back down as long as Amazonian workers are not treated with dignity and respect."
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