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Whole Foods Boycott Grows
CEO, John Mackey, Shoots Himself in the Birkenstock
The Western Mass. Single Payer Network and Western Mass. Jobs with Justice have thrown their support behind a national boycott of Whole Foods.
The Western Mass. Single Payer Network and Western Mass. Jobs with Justice have thrown their support behind a national boycott of Whole Foods. (Wicked Local photo by Jessica Bal.) The boycott was sparked by a recent op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal by Whole Foods CEO John Mackey, which sounds a very different note from the supermarket chain's earthy-crunchy image. In the piece-headlined the "The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare"-the libertarian Mackey argues against increasing government's role in the healthcare system. In the column-which begins with a quote from Margaret Thatcher-Mackey writes that, while he agrees that the healthcare system needs reform, "the last thing our country needs is a massive health-care entitlement that will create hundreds of billions of dollars of new unfunded deficit and move us much closer to a government takeover of our health-care system."
Instead, Mackey calls for a reform driven by "more individual empowerment." Among his suggestions: the repeal of government mandates on what insurers must cover ("What is insured and what is not insured should be determined by individual customer preferences and not through special-interest lobbying."); tort reform to curtail "ruinous lawsuits" that drive up doctors' malpractice insurance rates; and an unspecified reform of the Medicare system "that creates greater patient empowerment, choice and responsibility."
"[W]hile all of us empathize with those who are sick," Mackey goes on, access to healthcare should not be a guaranteed right, but rather should be "provided through voluntary and mutually beneficial market exchanges." And-echoing the hecklers who've dominated town-hall meetings around the country in recent weeks-he claims that "All countries with socialized medicine ration health care by forcing their citizens to wait in lines to receive scarce treatments....
"Rather than increase government spending and control, we need to address the root causes of poor health," Mackey writes. "This begins with the realization that every American adult is responsible for his or her own health."
Many of Americans' health problems are "self-inflicted," he writes, and could be prevented by diet, exercise and "other healthy lifestyle choices" (including, presumably, buying the natural and organic products on the shelves of his supermarket chain). Nowhere in his paean to responsible behavior does Mackey mention any degree of corporate responsibility for public health-the industries that pump pollutants into the air and waterways, say, or makers of unhealthy food who spend billions to market their crap to kids.
Mackey was already the nemesis of organized labor and other progressives before his op-ed ran. The CEO also opposes the Employee Free Choice Act, and in April, Mother Jones magazine (available for purchase, by the way, at the checkout racks at Whole Foods) reported that it had obtained an internal company document that named remaining "100 percent union-free" as a key corporate goal.
Cathy Cochran-Lewis, a spokeswoman for the company, sent the Advocate this statement: "While Whole Foods Market has no official companywide position on the healthcare reform issue, we would not want our very successful and sustainable healthcare coverage to be jeopardized. Our CEO submitted an opinion piece last week with the intention of expressing his own viewpoints and providing constructive ideas to support reform, as President Obama invited America to do.
"We have heard from individuals who both agree and disagree with John's ideas as there are many opinions and emotions surrounding the ongoing healthcare reform issue, including lots of differing views here inside of Whole Foods Market," the statement went on. "We appreciate those diverse perspectives but it is unfortunate there is misinformation and confusion out there to cloud John's good intentions.... One single opinion piece is far from the sum total of what Whole Foods Market has been known to offer for the past 30 years. Our customers can be assured that our primary focus is to continue to serve our valued shoppers, to ensure a great work environment for our Team Members, and to support our communities and our planet as a whole."
Jobs with Justice and the Single Payer Network point out that there are other local food stores that support their communities, including Stop and Shop, which is unionized, and Northampton's River Valley Market co-op. (And, for the next couple of months at least, the Valley is filled with farmers' markets and farm stands, where the community can directly support local food producers.) The activists also plan a boycott action at the Hadley Whole Foods sometime next month.
64 Comments so far
Show AllGood; let the boycott grow.
I'll try to flyer my local Pittsburgh Whole Foods this weekend. There are two better alternatives - a unionized local family-owned grodery chain, and a consumer-owned food co-op very nearby.
I guess Mackey is consulting his copy of "The Fountainhead" or maybe wondering what John Galt would do.
Good to see Americans getting a better grasp of the concept that the vote you cast in the marketplace is more influential than the vote you cast at the polls.
Yeah, but Mackey and most of his friends would renounce such actions as anti-free market! Only individuals making individual choices based on the individual good's individual price and quality are allowed. Same with workers selling their labor. Only bargaining as an individual, hat-in-hand, is allowed when dealing with that big corporation (which is, after all, only a "person" itself). Collective bargaining or anything else done "collectively", is anti-free market and thereefore evil. Onlt the individual exists! This socialistic idea of "society" is nonsense!
This is why we have good laws like the Taft-Hartley Act, which prohibits many types of organized boycotts. For example, a union leader can be prosecuted and imprisoned for calling for a boycott aimed at a particular firm. Labor actions by other workers in sympathy for other worker's grievances is also against the law. This is why the UFWA had to call for boycotts of entire commodities (iceberg lettuce, grapes) instead of just those produced by certain farms.
If its the East End Food Co-op, they're not that great either.
I've been boycotting Whole Foods for years because of their use of national distribution systems which hurt local farmers. When grocery shopping comes up in conversations with acquaintances and co-workers, I never fail to mention my refusal to support WF.
The idea that Whole Foods provides, by itself, America's only alternative to unhealthy eating is absurd. If you can't grow it yourself then local farmers and local co-ops are the way to go. Also, my local Kroger has just about anything that I could get from WF including fresh and locally grown organic produce which I couldn't.
q
Kroger's better?
Yes, because their prices are lower and they don't pretend to be something that they're not. Also, Kroger's workers are unionized.
q
Nuff Said!!
Bump.
Kroger's also carries products made/produced in illegal Isaeli settlements, at the expense of and often ladden with, Palestinian blood. Should that kinda thing matter to any of you folks.
I am a Whole Foods Market employee.
I feel that John Mackey's words were reckless and cavalier. His views I can assure you are not shared by the vast majority of the rank and file employees of Whole Foods Market.
He's just an arrogant rich guy who decided to flap his mouth without any regard for the consequences or any thought of how the working poor have to live.
He did this and now his employees have to suffer the fallout.
I'm so disgusted.
Are you one of the WF employees who goes onto local blogs and slanders local food coops?
q
Never. I think local food co ops are wonderful. There aren't any where I live. I do try to shop at Farmers Markets though.
Who knows, it could be Mackey himself. It was revealed last year by the NYT that he likes to post anonymously online to blogs and boards.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/12/business/12foods.html
You folks need to get unionized. All that team crap is a way to manipulate you into giving something for nothing.
I love these posts that bring Whole Foods into perspective. After hearing Bob Mackey speak his mind and pick sides, come on! I think that man has lost his whole picken mind! There is a much bigger picture Mr Mackey, but I don't expect you to think that deeply. It appears you've got yours so screw everybody else. Reap what you sow Mr. Mackey.
Now anyone with any amount of common sense knows one cannot convince or talk someone out of their personal convictions. I love how their company spokes person is back peddling on the owners statements, but elaborates her views only to confirm Whole Foods contempt on health care. Deliberate or not, she gives confirmation. Whole Foods is transparent.
What I will do now and in the future is encourage more people to shop in their own city, in their own local stores and that would often be a local Kroger, not at Whole Foods! Shop at your local Farmer’s Market and in the winter or when convenient, shop Kroger. If Whole Foods has that one item you can’t find anywhere else, buy only the one item and ask a Kroger manager to order it for you.
Common Sense = sharing Common Dreams.
By the way, I do give praise those who spend time outside Whole Foods keeping the message alive in people's mind about Whole Foods. People need to be reminded and develop new and better habits.
Whole Foods is straight business just like everything else. Like all businesses they have a niche, the Whole Foods niche is to sell organic 'health' food to rich folk who can afford it. Why is it so expensive? Because it's trucked in from all over the globe! Whole foods is no better a company than say, Raleys or Safeway. They're a shining example of our 'money talks' culture. The rich will have access to organic mangoes from bolivia while kids are starving next door to an empty lot that could be a community garden. Alright that's all I have to say.
This guy did have some points....
"the repeal of government mandates on what insurers must cover" (some that is)
Tort Reform
Actually, this is the one feature seen in all countries that use private-insurance based universal healthcare, like the Netherlands, Japan and Switzerland. Recognizing that market forces have very limited appplicability to healthcare, the insurance companies are treated just like regulated utilities.
I should have been more clear (a failing of my writing) I was thinking more of State mandates like Arizona that mandates coverage of Aroma Therapy or the removal of birthmarks, etc.....elective treatments in other words. Those are the type of things that drive up the cost of Health Care.
Insurance companies should be regulated like utilities.
Single Payer is so simple and could so easily be put into place it boggles my mind why more folks can't see it. Thats not socialized medicine, how do they get by with demionizing it that way. I know, I know!!
Let's bring that pretentious shi-shi food chain to its knees! Let's close them down.
I second the motion. I've never seen so much "green-wrapped" crap from Kraft and Dean Chemical Food companies in my life. You can bet about half of the stuff on the shelves is made to:
1. Attract your eye with food coloring; and GMO spliced produce that by FDA law can use up to 5% synthetic ingredients.
2. Have a long shelf life containing stuff that's not even tested for and by law contain up to 5% non-organic chemicals.
God I hate big companies. The CEO's all graduated from the same morally bankrupt Ivy League Business Schools, esp Harvard and Yale.
Support the little guy. Stay alive by avoiding anything wrapped in plastic. If it hasn't got a few seeds, worms, bugs or black spots something's wrong with it, and you're a guinea-pig for FrankenFood pesticide/herbicide/fungicide leaching bacteria genes.
The above, is all just my opinion only.
TJ
"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." - Thomas Jefferson
I am here to defend Whole Foods - I agree We Do Not NEED Any more forms of "entitlement" in this country - They are just more words for Crutches.
I am Not rich, Actually thanks to Obama I am Unemployed, But I shop at Whole Foods and Trader Joes and Local Farmers Markets . I can mange to Afford this good food because I dont waste my money on frivolous items like Playstation or the newest pair of Nike Air, etc.
He is absolutely right though, if people ate healthy, Vegan lifestyles, Natural life and lots of exercise, which could just be a nice long walk everyday, then we would combat things in this country like Diabetes and Obesity etc.
Our system wants to keep you in the Hospital so BIG Pharma can keep selling you their poisonous drugs and keep you in their hospital beds.
Not to mention, healthcare is an ONGOING election issue, the Democrats and Republicans need healthcare to keep a permanent wedge of division between AMERICAN citizens to keep us politically and falsely divided, while ALSO keeping our Attention Diverted from the REAL issues in this COuntry, like:
Obama Shoveling our Nations WEALTH into the Hands of the Ever Expanding "federal" reserve - to keep Supplying the MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX with Money to Fund the American Imperial WAR Machine Around the World (which I thought YOU Phony Progressives were supposed to be against?! - but instead obama keeps bitch slapping you and fooling you with his lies that you gave up on the Anti-War Movement altogether).
Grow Up America!
Wake Up America!
Start Taking Care of Yourselves and Stop asking the Government to hold your hand in every aspect of your life!
That is NOT what Our Founding Fathers Envisioned when they Fought a Bloody WAR for Freedom, when they Crafted the Declaration of Independence or Written the Constitution and the Bill of Rights!
You want a Plan to Make People AFFORD Better Healthcare - END The FED and the Insane Deficit Spending - Eliminate the ILLEGAL IRS/Income Tax and Put the Money of American Workers Back in their Pockets and Give People the Opportunity to take care of themselves.
And Start Eating a Healthy VEGAN Lifestyle!
Thank You for your opinion. I agree with you completely.
If we are to reform Health Care, why not explore some of John Mackey's eight (8) suggestions.
People who start calling names add no progress to the resolution. Do you think that by labeling Mackey as "Anti-Union" anything is added?
Grow up, allow others to express their ideas, don't label people.
The idea of "Ours is the ONLY way" is not a mature position. If yours is the ONLY WAY, you are probably headed down a one way street, and should stop, and ask for directions.
I for one will not boycott Whole Foods.
Getting To Yes-Palo Alto, California
Yup, we have some hired trolls here. How much are they paying you!
We've already tried your fucking idea - it was called the Robber-Barron Era. Workers paid no taxes and lived completely free of "government meddling", living in a state of bare survival in a slum at the shadow of the mill or mine portal. If they orgainzed, the faced the violence of the free-market-based, non-government, military forces called the "Pinkertons". As fully expected under such an economic syatem, wealth became concentrated in the hands of just a few individuals and corporations.
Modern examples can be seen if the free-market loving countries of El-Salvador, Honduras, and pre-and-post Sandinista Nicaragua. Workers pay very little taxes there too.
I see no countervailing economic force that would not cause the thing from happening again if we followed your ideas.
Mackey's ideas of "free market" healthcare are preposterous on their face. When one is sick, in an emergency, or facing possible death, they cannot be expected to shop around for a bargain on a hospital, or a great deal on a cheap oncologist or emergency room doctor. Likewise with his idea that we can shop around and pick and choose and mostly gamble on insurance coverage. And what about the poor? Most of us aren't willing to leave them to die out in front of the hospital.
And sorry to break this on you but even trim, health-food eaters do get serious illnesses and injuries.
great post!
Absolutely! Great post!!!
"the Robber-Barron Era." Indeed! Thats not capitalism, thats Corpratism. Which is what they are practicing on our country at the moment.
Capitalism tends towards corporatism.
Great post, except I doubt the traffic/influence of these forums warrants any paid posters. In fact, I doubt there has ever been such a "paid forum poster". Nevertheless, this is a great rebuttal to the tried-and-stunk laisse-faire economics and Mackey's patronizing.
If Mackey really thinks people are personally responsible for eating healthier in order to improve our health in this country then how come there isn't a Whole Foods in the area of my city where the citizens don't have access to healthy food? There are no other supermarkets there to even compete with. Perhaps if he based his business model on his stated ideals our country would be healthier. Somehow I doubt his sincerity.
Exactly! Try to find a Whole Foods in a poor, underserved neighborhood. The one Whole Foods in my city was built only after white gentrification was safely underway in a former poor black neighborhood where it is located. Same with a nearby Borders Books and Trader Joes.
And, as you write this, your pants fall off your ass as you slowly bend over and assume the position...
Yes sir America, wake up, Obama even made me lose my homework.
enemy, Getting to Yes,
How old are you? People don’t generally live perfectly healthy lives and then drop dead at 101, in case you haven’t noticed. There will probably come a time for you too, when good food and exercise isn’t enough, and you have health problems that can’t be paid for without better insurance (and insurance companies) than are available to most people in the US. Some people have those problems their whole lives; many develop conditions or suffer accidents, diseases, or cancer from chemicals created by industry… Many more would if not for OSHA and the EPA.
“Many of Americans' health problems are "self-inflicted," Mackey writes, and could be prevented by diet, exercise and "other healthy lifestyle choices" ”
Yes, many Americans’ (north Americans—US citizens, in fact) health problems are self-inflicted. They work for the wrong employers, for instance, who prevent them from unionizing or getting paid well and affording the incredibly expensive products they make, move or sell. Their employers of course benefit from high prices and low wages by having plenty of money to lobby and bribe politicians for laws that make them even more money—mostly by stealing it from their workers and the people who don’t even have jobs any more… Many people in the US also vote for the wrong candidates and political parties, parties who work together against the interests of their stooge-pawn members and most life on Earth. Obama is just one of those, just another tool. Not the problem. Nor is Mackey, although if he is anti-union, identifying him that way certainly is useful.
Thank you for playing, Mr. Mackey. But we already read your editorial. That's why we are boycotting your store.
I didn't know CD was into comedy, but your post really got me giggling.Gotta go grill me a rat.
Hey, enemyartistkristofeR! Eat this!
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A Real Reason to Boycott Whole Foods?
http://www.naturalnews.com/026906_food_foods_whole_foods.html
The last time I was in the U.S., I shopped at Whole Foods because it was the best option for convenient health food. But even then, I noticed a whole lot of "junk" being sold by the store: Foods made with yeast extract (a hidden form of MSG), loads of processed pastries, fried snack chips and all sorts of other products I wouldn't dare let touch my lips. Let's face it: If you walk around Whole Foods and read the ingredients, you'll be more than a little shocked to find out how much unhealthy stuff the store actually offers.
But even this isn't the No. 1 reason to stop shopping at Whole Foods. The real reason is because Whole Foods takes most of the profit on the products it sells, leaving vendors frustrated and often just barely scraping by. I know this because I have personal behind-the-scenes conversations with the owners of many companies who sell products through Whole Foods, and most of them quietly tell me behind closed doors that they are extremely frustrated with Whole Foods purchasing and payment policies. The markups are often quite ridiculous, requiring a health product manufacturer to cheapen their ingredients and water down their formulas just to be able to get their products into Whole Foods at a retail price (after the W.F. markup) that consumers can tolerate.
Enjoy your food shares. :-)
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Ha ha! Sucker!
Boycott Faux News and the rest of Rupert's rags!
LET'S PUT THIS BASTARD OUT OF BUSINESS!!!!
A**holes like him shouldn't be allowed to get ahead.
Apologies are not enough. Chapter 7's the goal.
CEO's John Mackey to the progressive consumers of Whole Foods: SUCKERS!
"Yup, we have some hired trolls here."
____________________________________
Not necessarily! Remember, Mackey amused himself by posting regularly on Yahoo message boards under the name Rahodeb, self-described as "not a Whole Foods groupie".
So he might well be saving himself a few bucks by returning to his sockpuppet ways on this very thread!
· Yr Obd't Servant
folks lets stop the put 'em out of business rhetoric please.
our focus should be to force out mackey and stop the green washing that is going on now. also we should help the nice folks who work there to join a union where they would have more
control over their lives.boycotting for them and carrying sign that say that would be great too as it would put public
pressure on them to unionize their operations.there's 14
million people out of work right now in the us lets
not add to that tally!
they are the Wal-Mart of the grocery industry. i have no issues with them going under. however, if you think you are going to help "the nice folks" join a union with that tone in your voice, it sounds to me like you have never been on an organizing drive.
what you are likely to do is actually get people fired by going about it the wrong way, as WF has proven time and time again when people try to organize.
threats of a boycott, and for that matter any other mass direct action against this CEO creep, combined with political and economic threats is the only thing that might force them to the table.
this is class war, not a friendly dinner party.
As a spouse to a Whole Foods employee, I hope people will think of the employees when they boycott. Although one might not appreciate the opinions of CEO John Mackey, the employees do have some empowering options as Team Members and they will suffer if you stop shopping there to spite Mr. Mackey. Please do not throw the baby out with the bathwater so to speak.
If people stop shopping at Whole Foods, they will increase business elsewhere, so there will be more jobs, including some better paying jobs in unionized stores elsewhere. Loyalty to an employer is not a good characteristic for any worker to have. The employers have no loyalty to you. Even as a white collar "professional" my only significant raises were obtained by quitting and finding another employer.
This "team member" stuff is largely a psychological tactic used against workers to create an illusion of empowerment. It is sad, but young people seem to accept a much harsher humiliating work environment at lousier pay than USAns used to accept.
You just might want to find out a bit about wage structures in the retail grocery industry. I think Mackey's oped shows him for what he is, but while he did not mention it, he does pay a living wage to his employees. In fact, I believe their pay scale is higher than some of the unionized chains.
I believe thay pay about 8.50 per hour, and most Whole-Foods stores are in high cost of living areas. This isn't a living wage in these areas.
I have a brother in law who has worked his way up in various Safeway stores while raising a family. This wouldn't have been possible without the union.
pjd412:
Very good post!
There is no I in TEAM, why do you think that is?
I have friends that work for Monsanto. Should that stop me from protesting their practices?