Reply #18: You won't see a strike at Whole Foods

[Bridget Burke]

Because their owner has compared unions to herpes.

"Austin, Tex.-based Whole Foods Market Inc. no longer will have union representation in any of its 145 stores if employees at its Madison store have their way.

"After Madison employees presented a petition requesting removal of the union, Whole Foods withdrew recognition of the United Food and Commercial Workers as the exclusive bargaining representative for its Madison employees. Earlier this year, the Madison store became the company's only location to vote for union representation in Whole Foods' 23-year history....The National Labor Relations Board scheduled a Nov. 17 vote on the request. Madison employees then presented a second petition with enough signatures to bypass the vote.

"Following that action, the United Food and Commercial Workers filed charges of unfair labor practices against Whole Foods. The company says the claims are baseless and ultimately will be dismissed....However, Brian Romanowich, a union organizer for UFCW Local 1444 in Madison, says Whole Foods supervisors and employees didn't follow federal labor rules when collecting the signatures for the second petition. Romanowich declines to comment further because the case is being investigated by the NLRB...."

But, hey, they're really groovy stores. They don't NEED unions.

Edited to add a link to the story:
http://milwaukee.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2003/11/10/daily36.html

While I'm at it, this one, too:
http://www.wholeworkersunite.org/