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Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

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Re: Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

#241

Post by Timmah »

perl4ever wrote: post #120
lsmarigo wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Panda Express kicks this up a notch and has a little bell they ring whenever someone donates their change adding an element of social pressure/shame, super scummy

If someone's going to make me uncomfortable, I'd stop going there. But if I really still wanted to go there, I'd work on a spiel about the charities I like and when they ask me to donate, I'd ask them to donate.

You're only making it harder on the wage slave behind the check stand. Theyre required to ask.

Re: Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

#242

Post by vinay427 »

biztos wrote: post #193

All my experience shopping at grocery chains in the US and elsewhere has impressed upon me that these workers represent the absolute classic, textbook case for unionization. Yes, including Whole Paycheck[0] as well as Trader Joe's and Safeway and Von's and everybody else. While I can imagine Amazon having a loathing of unions, if they really want to be in this space they will sooner or later have to contend with the…

[0]: Whole Foods goes by this nickname in California. Because you spend your...

Try their sale items, particularly if you live in an area that already has the Amazon Prime 10% discount on sale items. The sale prices were then usually lower than any other store in the area (SF) where I lived. For people who want specialty items (dietary choices, health conditions, etc.) I haven't really found a better option.

Re: Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

#243

Post by [deleted] »

hardwaresofton wrote: post #165
0x8BADF00D wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Unions should quite obviously have formed by now. Including the eng team. But the problem with unions is that over time they are corrupted, and quickly become inefficient bureaucratic institutions. I agree with your sentiment, but the reality is far murkier than that.

I feel like I'm the only one that ever asks this, but especially with the engineering team (and software engineers in general) why haven't robo-unions become a thing yet? While politics will be hard as always, instantly verifiable direct democracy is achievable with a distributed ledger + PGP... In addition to that I personally think that jobs that require you to be on pager duty at all should be paying way more than…

[deleted]

Re: Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

#244

Post by 2bitmachine »

1123581321 wrote: post #231
biztos wrote: post #193

All my experience shopping at grocery chains in the US and elsewhere has impressed upon me that these workers represent the absolute classic, textbook case for unionization. Yes, including Whole Paycheck[0] as well as Trader Joe's and Safeway and Von's and everybody else. While I can imagine Amazon having a loathing of unions, if they really want to be in this space they will sooner or later have to contend with the…

I agree conditions could be improved, and that we are probably near the peak of anti-union sentiment. I don’t agree unionization will transform these stores. Many grocery store chains are unionized and the jobs are still loathed. I understand the fear is that Amazon will make the job worse than merely loathed and perhaps the status quo union is enough to prevent that. I don’t think a union can change that impression…

> Many grocery store chains are unionized and the jobs are still loathed.

Unions aren't about undoing alienation under Capitalism, they're about making Capitalism survivable for laborers.

Re: Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

#245

Post by village-idiot »

sequoia wrote: post #197

"In a statement provided to TechCrunch, a representative of Whole Foods said they respect the “ individual rights of [their] team members.”" Ha... now there's a carefully chosen phrase. “[We] have an open-door policy that encourages team members to bring their comments, questions and concerns directly to their team leaders,” I'd refer to this gif[0] but I know they're not serious. If anyone believes individual cashie…

Lawyers were clearly involved in that press release.

Re: Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

#246

Post by fucking_tragedy »

magila wrote: post #234
throw2016 wrote: post #23

There are trade bodies, industry bodies, industry associations, chambers of commerce, special interest groups, lobbying groups and it goes on. Every business and corporate is a member of multiple bodies to further their interests and nobody questions these groupings. Yet employee and worker bodies causes discussion and debate as if somehow only this aspect of economic life should not seek to promote and protect their…

Nobody debates industry associations because they're just companies freely associating with each other. Those associations are, in-and-of-themselves, none of the average Joe's business. Unions by comparison are highly political due to all of the special laws governing them. Federal laws like the NLRA are everyone's business so it's only to be expected that many people are going to put in their two cents. Also, the na…

Corporations are a bunch of people (investors) coming together to promote their mutual self-interest in profit.

There are tons of special laws for businesses. Laws regarding businesses and employers affect everyone, whether they want them to or not.

It's a distinction I don't see.

Re: Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

#247

Post by village-idiot »

vinay427 wrote: post #242
biztos wrote: post #193

All my experience shopping at grocery chains in the US and elsewhere has impressed upon me that these workers represent the absolute classic, textbook case for unionization. Yes, including Whole Paycheck[0] as well as Trader Joe's and Safeway and Von's and everybody else. While I can imagine Amazon having a loathing of unions, if they really want to be in this space they will sooner or later have to contend with the…

[0]: Whole Foods goes by this nickname in California. Because you spend your... Try their sale items, particularly if you live in an area that already has the Amazon Prime 10% discount on sale items. The sale prices were then usually lower than any other store in the area (SF) where I lived. For people who want specialty items (dietary choices, health conditions, etc.) I haven't really found a better option.

Depending on what you buy, Whole Foods is sometimes cheaper than the “regular” grocery stores. Between sales and the Amazon card we have, it’s kinda silly for us to shop elsewhere.

Re: Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

#248

Post by Timmah »

nickthemagicman wrote: post #139
imagiko wrote: post #38

I have noticed that the cashier's have gotten pushy about asking about a Prime account, and very recently about a charity donation. It's a good way to 'make' people donate when asked upfront. I'm sure the probability of people donating increases. When I denied, I was asked if I'd like to round off my payment and have the balance donated. Honestly, it's very annoying. Whole foods is unfortunately becoming an REI store…

I quit donating to charity after I found out that Red Cross only gives a small fraction of its donations to charity the rest is spent on Administration costs. Just like colleges and the healthcare industry. Got to pay all those vp's of vp's of vp's.

It's not a "small fraction". You're probably confused with Susan Komen. Red Cross has it's faults, but if they can serve more victims by hiring more effective people with 6 figure salaries, aren't they doing more good?

By analogy, the main rocket on the space shuttle has two stages of fuel pumps...powered by rocket fuel. So you could say that's inefficient, why not run fuel straight from the tanks into the rocket. But it can't pump enough in to get enough thrust unless it uses some of its fuel so that it could burn even more fuel.

My personal charity gripe is the blood bank. They make it out like you're a hero, meanwhile they bill the patient thousands of dollars. They hide behind "but people with disease might donate if we paid them", well they pay people for plasma. And they have to test for HIV anyway (not only that, HIV isn't even a death sentence anymore). If they want my blood they can donate it to the patient or give me 50% of what they bill.

Re: Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

#249

Post by batiudrami »

whb07 wrote: post #226
FridgeSeal wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah for sure, people living hand to mouth in a hyper competitive low-skill wage job definitely have the luxury of shopping around for better conditions where employers have their pick of any number of people desperate for a job. Totally.

This sarcasm does not move the discussion forward. There’s a number of things a person can do in the U.S to pick up a skill from a trade to medicine. With grants, loans, or any number of free/paid courses. Also, it is truly impressive to see people work and succeed going from “not very much” to “boy he’s a force”. Just takes effort, go figure.

Acquiring a skill takes money (if there's any kind of accreditation) and time. If you're living paycheque-to-paycheque and looking to change employers, chances are you don't have much of either. Not everyone has a safety net.
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