Amazon-Whole Foods not a prime union target
Organizers say new company likely will tilt away from them
Like one of its organic peaches, Whole Foods Market would seem ripe for the picking when it comes to being a target for labor unions following its acquisition by Amazon.
But unions say this peach may be too high on the tree.
Whole Foods is known for higher prices than other supermarket chains, which often lead to higher profit margins from an affluent customer base willing to pay more. And Amazon hopes to close its $13.7 billion, all-cash deal for Whole Foods, the kind of money that unions home in on in hopes of fattening workers’ paychecks.
But Amazon’s bid to purchase Whole Foods isn’t likely to aid unionization efforts at either company, despite the fact the grocery industry overall is relatively highly unionized.
The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, whose members include 850,000 grocery store workers, has no plans to try to unionize Whole Foods’ grocery workers. At least not yet, said Marc Perrone, president of the union.
“We generally don’t go to places that aren’t looking for us to come to,” he said.
Even if grocery workers did organize, that might not serve as a toehold to organize other aspects of the company, such as distribution centers, which are often in rural areas with limited job opportunities, Perrone said.
But the union already knows that Amazon and Whole Foods are tough nuts to crack.
“Both Amazon and Whole Foods have historically been anti-union and actively campaigned against unionization efforts. So it’s going to be difficult to make any headway with either of those companies when they are combined,” said Ben Field, executive officer of the South Bay Labor Council, which covers Silicon Valley.