Critics of Whole Foods CEO to demonstrate in Cambridge, Framingham

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Boston.com

By Globe Staff

Health care reform supporters say they'll demonstrate Friday at Whole Foods stores in Cambridge and Framingham after the chain's chief executive wrote an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal declaring that health care is not a right and calling for health care savings accounts.

"Essentially, Mackey believes that health care in the United States can be fixed with a band aid, when what it really needs is a blood transfusion," said Russ Davis, executive director of Massachusetts Jobs With Justice, a coalition of unions, community groups, and religious organizations.

"All other modern industrialized countries have national health care systems which do it better, do it cheaper, and cover everybody. We need real reform here, too," Davis said in a statement.


A Whole Foods in Hingham

Mackey's piece last week has left some of the store's shoppers feeling betrayed, The Associated Press reported today.



Read more: http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/08/whole_foods_cri.html

[Ian David]

1. Fuck Whole Foods! n/t

[dotymed]

22. I LIVE IN CAMBRIDGE CITY

my 13 year old son and I will make posters and share our views
on health care....it is a RIGHT! That Greedy bastard! We need
a Constitutional Amendment!

[Faygo Kid]

2. Will never shop there again.

Goodbye, Whole Foods. I spent money on you, but never again. This was appalling.

Home Depot is off the list, as well, for the same reasons.

[noiretextatique]

3. i was never fond of whole paycheck

and there are alternatives where i live. mackey should be CEO of DUMFUCKISTAN :rofl: i bet he regrets writing that op-ed piece now.

[laughingliberal]

29. Dumfuckistan!!!

:rofl:

[Zorra]

4. Wow. What a dumbass. Who does he think his customer base is, the Teabaggers?

Does he think republicans give a rat's ass about eating healthy whole foods?

Whole Foods needs to find a new CEO that has something in common with their customer's values and lifestyles.

Now I have a better idea of why their prices are so high.

[Auggie]

7. +1

[prostomulgus]

5. Another rich, middle aged, racist white guy

Straight from the lunatic fringe of the hard right.

What a scumbag :puke:

[paulsby]

25. are you kidding me

now he's a RACIST because you disagree with him on health care policy?

or am i missing something.

i find this absurd. i generally don't shop WF because i think they are ludicrously overpriced, but to call this guy a RACIST hard right SCUMBAG???!?!?! because you disagree with his health care position.

absurd

[Joanne98]

6. Why doesn't the board just FIRE him.

[GinaMaria]

19. bet they are thinking about it or

at least figuring out what would cost them less money... keeping him and losing customers or terminating his contract and paying severance according to his contract. He put the business in a bad place. You and I would have been terminated immediately, but we don't have sweet executive deals.

[noiretextatique]

8. other reason to boycott whole foods

(1) Aggressive monopolization. Tons of independent co-ops throughout the country don't exist any more because Whole Foods bought them out. Whole Foods also absorbed all its significant competitors (Wild Oats, Bread & Circus, Fresh Fields, Bread of Life, Merchant of Vino, Nature's Heartland, Food for Thought, Harry's Farmers Market, Mrs. Gooch's Natural Foods Markets, and U.K.-based Fresh & Wild). (2) They've thus created a near-monopoly in the natural foods grocery business. Consumers are better served by a diversity of stores, but Whole Foods has been trying to wipe out the competition -- and has been quite successful at doing so.

(2) Failure to support farmworkers. When United Farm Worker activists passed out literature at an Austin Whole Foods Market, Whole Foods called the cops and had them arrested. Embarrassed by the public outcry, Whole Foods then promised to support the UFW's grape boycott, but then broke that promise when it moved the store a couple of blocks away, saying the agreement applied only to the old location. They also produced deceptive literature for their customers blasting the farmworkers group and describing farmworker conditions as being no problem at all. About this, the UFW says, "Several major cases have been tried in states such as North Carolina and Florida during recent years where it was found that workers were being kept by their employers in a state of virtual slavery. This is worlds away from the ideal and naïve (and disingenuous) information put out by Whole Foods." (3,4)

http://michaelbluejay.com/misc/wholefoods.html

and what an interesting website!! this guy is really walking his talk.

[Diane R]

16. Excellent post.

[Iowa]

20. Thanks for that info! I did not know that. n/t

[tj2001]

9. "I like Mackey's haircut – I think he looks cute!"

– Rahodeb (17 July 2007)

("rahodeb" was the Yahoo username for John Mackey)

[kestrel91316]

10. Time to put WF on notice: FIRE MACKEY IMMEDIATELY or see your business fail.

Let's see just how fast we liberals can bring them to their knees.

Mackey is a clueless nitwit who has no idea who his customer base is, and he just said "fuck 'em!"

[Fridays Child]

11. I second everything you said.

[WriteDown]

18. Doubtful...

The people who shop there don't care a wit about this. I think the woman in the photo is leaving in a Porsche Cayenne and looks like she's right out of The Real Housewives of Orange County.

[Lifelong Protester]

12. I have spread this info FAR AND WIDE and hope all DUers

do the same. Some of my relatives did NOT know this and are regular WF shoppers-but not anymore. And I hope the picketing picks up.

[WriteDown]

17. Unfortunately, most DUers are not the ones who make...

Whole Paycheck's profits soar. They are more the neo liberals living in Seattle spending a couple of hundred dollars a week on groceries.

[tinkerbell41]

21. I have shopped there for years.

When they were known as Fresh Fields . I made a conscious decision to buy only organic fruits and veggies. It killed me financially, but when my mother was diagnosed with non-hodgkins lymphoma, which does trace back to pesticide and weed killer use, especially whatever is in Roundup, I changed my eating habits. I also don't use any kind of brand name household cleaners, only baking soda, vinegar, borax, lemon juice.
I will not go back there, but it will be difficult. I guess I can ask my neighborhood grocer to carry those items. I do travel about 15 miles to buy grassfed beef and pastured chicken at a different store.

[Lifelong Protester]

28. Yes, it is unfortunately neither cheap nor easy to get food you

can trust, that is if you can't raise it yourself. I don't live near a WF, so I go to a food coop, take part in a CSA program, and do the best I can. I feel bad for folks who have certain illnesses or conditions (I have a relative with celiac, and at first WF was about the only place with a selection of gluten-free stuff~now it is a bit more common to find those products elsewhere).

I agree with keeping your diet clean, and good luck to you and your mom. Also, try to get the local grocer to carry the items you need, you might be surprised to find that more than a few folks need what your requesting. I've had luck with that.

[defendandprotect]

31. k i c k

[Trillo]

13. Hey, it's another perk of the title "CEO"!

Heath care. Perk ain't no good if everyone else gets it.

I wish it was sarcasm

[jxnmsdemguy65]

14. I don't live near a WF

but I'd love to see a couple of their stores go out of business. I used to enjoy visiting them during travels, but saw through their bullshit when I spotted a 16oz jar of sliced pineapple for $9.49 in the New Orleans store. uh, robbery!!!

[countmyvote4real]

15. I hate that Top Chef uses them on the show.

I'm sure that most of it was shot before the CEO ass fart. Still, it riles me up.

[Ian David]

23. Probably ALL of it was shot before the CEO spoke out of his ass. n/t

[Ian David]

24. I can now count THREE good things that The Bush Admin did in their 8 years

1) The Do-Not-Call List
2) Medical Savings Accounts
3) Blocked the merger of Whole Foods and Trader Joe's

[Le Taz Hot]

26. Oh darn!

Now I'll have to try to find some other vendor to sell me an $8.00 potato. :eyes: Thank the goddess for my organic garden and all the farmer's markets around here.

[maddogesq]

27. One more reason why I shop at HIllers and COSTCO.

For those that don't know, HIllers is a chain of seven spermarkets in the Detroit area. My parents knew the founder, Sid Hiller. Sid worked in the stores into his 90's. He was always giving my dad free wine, bread and stuff. Jim HIller had a large cake made in the shape of a piano as a donation to a benefit for the family of my bandmate, who was killed (Iwas injured) by a drunk driver seven years ago while returning from a gig in Indiana.

The important thing here is that Hillers is big on promoting Michigan made products. Check out Jim Hiller's blog:

http://www.hillers.com/blog/

Never shopped at Whole Foods that much, and won't go there in the future.

[laughingliberal]

30. A typical RW arrogant asshat

Thought everyone with a little cash in their pockets agreed with him. Who the hell did he think their customer base was?