Whole Foods Market - Labor Relations

Labor Relations

Among its core values, the company lists "supporting team member happiness and excellence". The company maintains that its treatment of workers obviates the needs for unions: At its U.S. stores, after 800 service hours, full-time workers are given an option to purchase health insurance coverage starting at $10 per paycheck for themselves (spouse and dependent coverage is offered for an additional charge). Workers also have access to a company-funded personal wellness account, and the starting pay at most stores is highly competitive.

CEO Mackey drew attention to Whole Food's health insurance program (offered through United Health Care in the US) for its employees in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal. In the article he called his company's insurance plan a viable alternative to "Obamacare". Whole Food's health insurance plan is notable for its high deductibles – $2000 for general medical expenses, and $1000 for prescriptions. However, employees receive $300 to $1800 per year (depending on years of service) in personal wellness funds, which are intended to help make up the difference. Once an employee has met the deductibles, insurance covers 80% of general medical costs and prescriptions. It should also be noted that medications and doctor care for the treatment of any type of mental illness are explicitly not covered by the company's health insurance policy. Mackey summed up his antipathy toward universal coverage in his op-ed by stating,

"A careful reading of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution will not reveal any intrinsic right to health care, food or shelter. That's because there isn't any. This "right" has never existed in America."

A "Boycott Whole Foods" page on Facebook with more than 27,000 members was also created in response to John Mackey's position on health care. Conversely, an alternative group on Facebook was set up in support of John Mackey and Whole Foods.

Mackey, a libertarian, makes no secret of his opposition to unions at Whole Foods Market. Mackey believes that unions facilitate an adversarial relationship between management and labor. An attempt at unionizing in Madison, Wisconsin, in 2002 was met with resistance from store management and Whole Foods was accused by labor activists of union busting. A 2004 ruling by the National Labor Relations Board upheld the actions of Whole Foods at the Madison store. Further attempts at unionizing Whole Foods Market stores have been unsuccessful. Michael Henneberry of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union said they failed to attract the interest of the employees at Berkeley's Whole Foods despite rallying there for seven years.

Whole Foods was criticized for its refusal to support a campaign by the United Farm Workers (UFW) on behalf of agricultural workers laboring on strawberry farms. During the late 1990s, the UFW persuaded several large supermarket chains to sign a pledge in support of improved wages and working conditions for strawberry pickers. Whole Foods chose instead to support the farm workers directly by holding a "National 5% Day" where five percent of that day's sales – $125,000 – was donated to organizations which provide social services to farmworkers.