Same poster from last night, team member in the Mid Atlantic region. By no later than Monday I'll be making another post and providing a contact email that I will create and only log onto from a secure location for fellow team members to communicate with so we can get some coordination going. As I said, our store is ready, but its going to take more than one store acting to make a real difference, and its crucial that we work together. In the meantime, think it over this weekend, do some research, and see how your fellow team members feel about taking action. Don't let leadership posts on here scare you off. Only in America do Unions get such a bad rap. We live in a modern day Oligarchy where the line between the financial sector and the political system is virtually non existent. Know your history and don't be afraid to stand up for yourself. You don't have to take it lying down.
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The Case For Unions
http://www.dailydot.com/opinion/union-huffington-post-gawker-digital-media/
Unions could be a good option at this point. Management will ramp up the fear and intimidation tactics soon, you can bet on that.
I was part of the United food and commercial service workers union at one point. I made a lot more money, got a 50 min paid lunch. Unions are not all bad. But, whole foods hates them. I've sat through TL anti Union training in the MA. They have one STL they put in place at the store in jeopardy. He gives away tons of free food, scooters and laptops at store meetings...all the tms forget the bad times.
unions are all about politics and money and self-preservation--of the union, not of the folks who are members of the union. I was so disillusioned when I discovered this for myself about ten years after I had enthusiastically picketed to support unions. What we got was not what we thought we were getting.
I am a long time TM my position has been eliminated before and I was laid off. They wanted me back and I wanted to go back. UNIONS are not the answer!!! I've worked jobs with unions, if you want to pay someone you never meet, or ever hear from send me you payday union dues!!!!!
Just smart. Unions only care for themselves!! They can't stop lay offs from happening. If you work hard, and not work enough to get by/lazy, and have no issues with T&A , you should be fine. I'd rather see the ones slacking get terminated to make room for the ones that care to work. I don't want to be forced into a union.
Dig into doing research on unions. They're not your friend, they just want your money!
Something they don't want out there is that individual teams can unionize. Legally each team is considered a separate entity. Even if half the store doesn't unionize a majority vote is only need on your team. Some of the smaller teams can band together first and others will follow.
It is true they can still fire people but it is much harder for them. Union lawyers will represent you if you are let go wrongfully.
They can lay off people,even if they are unionized. Even if positions pay less than before, they still pay more than other grocery stores. I am a team member and I make $11.75 an hour. My kitchen manager at my last grocery store earned less than that. A company can reorganize and change job descriptions and a union won't protect from that. I am actually not anti union. I think there are some unions that are really important. As awful as Whole Foods has been these past few weeks, a union would not have protected us. The severance people received was fair. Leadership sucks, but unions can't change that, either. Explain to me what a union would have changed in this situation. Maybe I have it wrong. I am open to learn.
I've never been part of a Union. I will be doing my research. Though in my years with Whole Foods, everyone I know who has come out of a Union has hated it. It also doesn't seem, through my small amount of research, that being unionized would have saved any of these jobs. Further after reading this post, my first search was union leader salaries... here is a link to the salaries of the United Food & Commercial Worker's Union (https://www.unionfacts.com/employees/United_Food_%26_Commercial_Workers). I'm not anti union. I'm not pro being screwed over by Whole Foods. But everyone has an angle. Cronyism exists everywhere. Both Whole Foods and unions. Anyone trying to cast the themselves in an angelic light is selling you something to benefit themselves, whether it is financially, personal gratification of feeling on the "right" side, or just wanting to add to their numbers. To the poster's point. Do your homework. I'm doing mine. i know Whole Foods is messed up right now and probably not going to get better, but I am unconvinced a union will be the answer.
We r w you, but watch out, there r a LOT of trolls speaking agaisnt and trying to scare away TM's. It's gonna be hard. What do we have to loose?