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Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

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Re: Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

#281

Post by skrebbel »

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…

> If anyone believes individual cashiers asking for maternity leave is a good way to get it

I recognize that your comment is dripping of cynicism so I'm not entirely sure which parts are true.

You're saying that you can't get maternity leave at Whole Foods (or in the entire USA maybe? I don't know whether this is national or just that Whole Foods is somehow a horrible, terrible, no good employer) when you ask? How about with a doctor's note that says that yes indeed, you're pregnant? Isn't there laws about that sort of stuff? And wasn't Whole Foods supposed to be the upmarket, organic, do-goodery, happy happy joy joy supermarket?

Seriously when I read stuff like this I wonder how it's possible that America functions, well, at all. Do they expect people to just bleep the groceries in-between the contractions? Hey yo don't worry I can breast-feed the little one with a single hand and use the other hand to bag your leek.

Re: Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

#282

Post by stephengillie »

pxlpshr wrote: post #184

A lot of finger pointing at Amazon but most of the employment demands from the 'union' have been characteristics of Whole Foods since looonnngg before the aquisition. For example, unpaid paternity/maternity leave, no recognition of any holiday including federal - just 3 weeks of PTO used at your discretion, below market compensation, crappy benefits, calcified management, and the list goes on. Most people work there…

> 3 weeks of PTO

Having been in the UFCW Local 367, it takes 3 years to get 3 weeks PTO - it's 1 week the first year.

And you get "sick days", but you had to call in sick for 2 days (and lose that pay) and have a doctor's note, to start getting sick pay.

If you do call in sick, you have to explain to the manager that they'll be short a person all day, and customers will find the store that much busier and harder to shop in. Stores don't have a "b-roster" to call in when someone is sick.

Journeyman checker wages have been frozen at 18.50/hour for a decade. And it takes 4 years to work the hours to become journeyman, which increases in every subsequent union contract.

Re: Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

#283

Post by nickthemagicman »

Timmah wrote: post #248
nickthemagicman wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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. Bu…

So every blood drive is basically free money for the medical industry. We get the feeling of doing good while they charge the patient probably excessivly large amounts of money behind out backs Thays so sleazy. My aunt got bit by a rattle snake and her emergency room costs for one afternoon in the E.R were 48000 dollars. All they did was give her anitvenom and observe. I'm sure that would cost next to nothing in another country. Such a sketch industry.

As to the Red Cross, It also feels pretty sketch.

https://www.npr.org/2014/12/04/368453320/red-cross-misstates...

Re: Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

#284

Post by rawTruthHurts »

skrebbel wrote: post #281
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…

> If anyone believes individual cashiers asking for maternity leave is a good way to get it I recognize that your comment is dripping of cynicism so I'm not entirely sure which parts are true. You're saying that you can't get maternity leave at Whole Foods (or in the entire USA maybe? I don't know whether this is national or just that Whole Foods is somehow a horrible, terrible, no good employer) when you ask? How ab…

"You're saying that ..."

No, that's not what he's saying, and no, a single person does not have the same leverage an entire collective has against a larger company.

Re: Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

#285

Post by skrebbel »

rawTruthHurts wrote: post #284
skrebbel wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If anyone believes individual cashiers asking for maternity leave is a good way to get it I recognize that your comment is dripping of cynicism so I'm not entirely sure which parts are true. You're saying that you can't get maternity leave at Whole Foods (or in the entire USA maybe? I don't know whether this is national or just that Whole Foods is somehow a horrible, terrible, no good employer) when you ask? How ab…

"You're saying that ..." No, that's not what he's saying, and no, a single person does not have the same leverage an entire collective has against a larger company.

But.. You're pregnant! You're entitled to maturity leave right? Isn't that normal? Why do you need "leverage"?

I'm not kidding, so I'll ask again, even clearer. Does America not have the concept of maturity leave by law? Is it like considered a perk or something?

I'm so confused because, well, where I live when you're pregnant, tell the boss is exactly what you'd do! And then you get maturity leave. And the GGP says that that's somehow totally laughably ridiculous, so laughably ridiculous that it warrants sharing imgur gifs, and I really don't get it and I also still don't get how America can function at all when something as basic as this isn't, well, basic.

ps. also you're not being very helpful with "No, that's not what he's saying" without telling me what he is saying.

Re: Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

#286

Post by morsch »

skrebbel wrote: post #285
rawTruthHurts wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"You're saying that ..." No, that's not what he's saying, and no, a single person does not have the same leverage an entire collective has against a larger company.

But.. You're pregnant! You're entitled to maturity leave right? Isn't that normal? Why do you need "leverage"? I'm not kidding, so I'll ask again, even clearer. Does America not have the concept of maturity leave by law? Is it like considered a perk or something? I'm so confused because, well, where I live when you're pregnant, tell the boss is exactly what you'd do ! And then you get maturity leave. And the GGP says…

There's apparently a federally mandated minimum of 12 weeks unpaid leave, with a number of exceptions. From what I can tell, Whole Foods does what it must, and not a lick more.

https://www.everydayhealth.com/pregnancy/101/tip/fmla.aspx

Re: Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

#287

Post by bengale »

skrebbel wrote: post #285
rawTruthHurts wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"You're saying that ..." No, that's not what he's saying, and no, a single person does not have the same leverage an entire collective has against a larger company.

But.. You're pregnant! You're entitled to maturity leave right? Isn't that normal? Why do you need "leverage"? I'm not kidding, so I'll ask again, even clearer. Does America not have the concept of maturity leave by law? Is it like considered a perk or something? I'm so confused because, well, where I live when you're pregnant, tell the boss is exactly what you'd do ! And then you get maturity leave. And the GGP says…

Where are you based? Are you sure unions aren't the reason you have these benefits?

Re: Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

#288

Post by C7H8N4O2 »

skrebbel wrote: post #285
rawTruthHurts wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"You're saying that ..." No, that's not what he's saying, and no, a single person does not have the same leverage an entire collective has against a larger company.

But.. You're pregnant! You're entitled to maturity leave right? Isn't that normal? Why do you need "leverage"? I'm not kidding, so I'll ask again, even clearer. Does America not have the concept of maturity leave by law? Is it like considered a perk or something? I'm so confused because, well, where I live when you're pregnant, tell the boss is exactly what you'd do ! And then you get maturity leave. And the GGP says…

> ps. also you're not being very helpful with "No, that's not what he's saying" without telling me what he is saying.

> If anyone believes individual cashiers asking for maternity leave is a good way to get it, I've got a bridge you might also be interested in buying.

Sequoia is referring implicitly to the significant difference in power and efficacy of individual vs collective bargaining in the United States. Collective bargaining (e.g. unionization -> union negotiations) has long been a way for workers to effect more change in workplace conditions and compensation than they would otherwise be able to, alone.

Paid maternity leave is a luxury in the United States.

The bridge comment implies gullibility.

Re: Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

#289

Post by spacehome »

skrebbel wrote: post #281
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…

> If anyone believes individual cashiers asking for maternity leave is a good way to get it I recognize that your comment is dripping of cynicism so I'm not entirely sure which parts are true. You're saying that you can't get maternity leave at Whole Foods (or in the entire USA maybe? I don't know whether this is national or just that Whole Foods is somehow a horrible, terrible, no good employer) when you ask? How ab…

If an employee is pregnant, no one is forcing the employee to show up for work. When people talk about maternity leave, they usually don't mean the ability to not show up for work (which is a given in a free society), but rather the obligation of the employer to pay the employee whether or not she shows up for work. This meaning of 'maternity leave' is not a legal requirement of employment in the US, though some employers include it. Employers are not and should not be required to pay you for work you are not doing. If maternity leave is important to an employee, it's important to negotiate it when arranging employment, or failing that, negotiate a high enough salary that you can afford to save for a couple months without income.

As of 1993, companies with 50 employees or more must offer unpaid maternity leave.

Re: Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

#290

Post by dragonwriter »

spacehome wrote: post #289
skrebbel wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If anyone believes individual cashiers asking for maternity leave is a good way to get it I recognize that your comment is dripping of cynicism so I'm not entirely sure which parts are true. You're saying that you can't get maternity leave at Whole Foods (or in the entire USA maybe? I don't know whether this is national or just that Whole Foods is somehow a horrible, terrible, no good employer) when you ask? How ab…

If an employee is pregnant, no one is forcing the employee to show up for work. When people talk about maternity leave, they usually don't mean the ability to not show up for work (which is a given in a free society), but rather the obligation of the employer to pay the employee whether or not she shows up for work. This meaning of 'maternity leave' is not a legal requirement of employment in the US, though some empl…

> If an employee is pregnant, no one is forcing the employee to show up for work. When people talk about maternity leave, they usually don't mean the ability to not show up for work (which is a given in a free society), but rather the obligation of the employer to pay the employee whether or not she shows up for work.

Well, there's two kinds of mandatory maternity leave:

Job protected leave, in which the employee is entitled to be returned to work after their leave, which may or may not be paid, and

Paid leave, in which the employee is entitled to pay while on leave, whether or not they are entitled to return to work (in principle; in practice, mandated paid leave is usually also job protected.).

The US (for some employees of some employers) has federally-guaranteed job protected maternity (and paternity) leave, but no federal mandate for paid leave for either. Some states have additional job protected leave mandates and/or paid leave mandates.

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