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TechnoratiOpen Letter to Whole Foods Market
John Mackey
CEO
Whole Foods Market, Inc.
550 Bowie Street
Austin, TX 78703-4644
Mr. Mackey:
We the undersigned are writing to ask for your immediate intervention to resolve the situation facing workers at Beef NW feed lots, a company who supplies your stores with "natural" beef. We are a network of or organic and chemical-free farmers, labor unions, ethical consumers, students, cooperatives and advocates that work in support of "Fair Trade" principles for domestic labor and production. We are particularly concerned about the situation at Beef Northwest's feedlots in Oregon.
As a major international retailer, and the largest retailer of organic and natural food products in the United States, we strongly believe you have a responsibility to fulfill your stated commitment to social responsibility. The situation facing the workers at Beef NW is intolerable. A hundred workers have been struggling for over a year now to have the United Farm Workers represent them. Yet the company has refused to acknowledge the outcome of a free and fair card check election. Even the Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama has called for Beef NW to recognize the outcome of this process. Yet Beef NW has refused.
US labor law discriminates against farm workers by denying them many of the key protections that most other industrial or service workers enjoy, like overtime pay, health and safety protections and even a legally binding mechanism that requires agricultural employers to negotiate a union contract. Even the United State's own General Accounting Office found that "farm workers are not adequately protected by federal laws, regulations, and programs; therefore, their health and well-being at great risk." According to the most recent findings of the National Agriculture Workers Survey (NAWS), nearly three-quarters of U.S. farm workers earn less than $10,000 per year and three out of five farm worker families have incomes below the poverty level.
As such, we strongly believe that you have a moral responsibility to do right by the workers at Beef NW. We are dismayed to learn that instead of supporting a constructive resolution to this dispute, that in your public statements you have sided with Beef NW's anti-union position. We are also dismayed that to date, your company has remained silent in the face of ongoing discrimination against women of color at Beef NW. We understand three women have sued the company for race and gender based discrimination. It is difficult to fathom how such behavior is consistent with your stated values.
We also understand that workers have filed suit against Beef NW for failure to comply with wage and hour laws. Again, we understand Whole Foods has made no public statement decrying these alleged violations of law.
What about Whole Foods' Whole Trade Guarantee program for domestic workers? The Whole Trade Guarantee, through a third-party verified program, ensures that producers and laborers in developing countries get an equitable price for their goods in a safe and healthy working environment. Shouldn't Fair Trade principles and practices apply to vulnerable and often exploited workers and laborers in the United States as well as overseas?
This behavior runs counter to how a responsible retailer should conduct itself. We call on you to stop supporting anti-union tactics and publicly demand that your supplier initiate immediate negotiations with the UFW. It's time to break your silence and publicly demand women of color be offered equal opportunity for employment, as well as to ensure your supplier complies with all pertinent wage and hour laws.
Sincerely,
Ronnie Cummins, Organic Consumers Association
United Farm Workers
International Labor Rights Forum
Global Exchange
Turtle Island Restoration Network
Breast Cancer Action
International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal
Corporate Ethics International
Bay Area Community Services
Bay Area Meat CSA
Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate
Adrian Dominican Sisters
Midwest Coalition for Responsible Investments
Zoë Ida Bradbury, Food & Society Policy Fellow
Tri-State Coalition for Responsible Investment
Cc. Country Natural Beef
Beef Northwest
36 Comments so far
Show AllAs some one who usually describes himself as left of Karl Marx, I am lucky to live in Portland,Oregon where we have "New Seasons Markets".
They buy their beef from Country Natural Beef,and have been concerned with the issues at Beef NW feed lots. For a time they and Northwest Natural Beef felt it was not their issue, but have decided it is, and are working to organize an election at NW Feed for workers to decide by secrete ballot weather to join the union. Many of the workers do not speak English, and the issue is complicated.
The CEO, Brian Rohter, is described in his blog as: "has also been very involved in food activities in Portland, as a one-time co-chair of the Food Policy Council, a board member for Loaves and Fishes, and as a member of the advisory committee for the Portland Public Market, among others."
I read in the local media, that he supports farmers markets, and a full time Public Market. When questioned he said: "Anything that contributes to supporting local farms, benefits us all.
When local Groceries objected to expanding the bottle bill, he demurred and said: “It’s part of doing business.”
They have a contract with a local fisherman who supplies their salmon, and contract directly with local farmers for their produce. They often have pictures and descriptions of their suppliers posted in the stores.
Although I have never met Rohter, I have house shared with several employees, who love working there. The staff is knowledgeable and candid. They get good wages, profit sharing, and are respected.
It is a delightful place to shop, and just hang out.
Grant
This may be the dumbest conversation ever posted in response to an article. Here's a brief outline for those of you who are too ideologically blind and/or functionally illiterate to notice the details:
1) The letter is an attempt to address Whole Foods' support for food providers with sketchy track records on workers' rights, not an appeal for anyone to be a vegetarian, or a "veterian" as super genius 'New' writes at 1:21pm (above).
2) Protecting the rights of workers and supporting small, equitable farms is not a partisan issue. It allows small farmers and farmhands to make a living, while it helps to keep at least some of our food supply free of dangerous pesticides, genetically-modified carcinogens and bovine growth hormone. it is a win-win situation for everyone, save outspoken Libertarian ideologues like John Mackey and bourgeois yuppie assh*les who claim that supporting small farmers or locally-grown food movements is a matter of Left-wing 'purity'. These non-farming chickenhawk middle managers would rather defend the 'common man' like our Agent Orange producing, Holocaust-profiteering buddies at Monsanto. Hey, I got an idea, maybe you guys could exercise your totally worthwhile business marketing skills to 're-brand' skills Monsanto! Perhaps you could transform that non-corporeal capitalist sh*t heap into a singular, while male human entity called "Joe the Fertilizer" or "Joe the Testicular Cancer Causing War Criminal."
3) John Mackey is not now, nor has he ever been, a decent human being. Providing people with more comprehensive access to natural deodorant does not negate his stance as a union buster and anti-democratic douchebag. I also applaud the idea of putting pressure on King Mackey, but it should come in the form of direct action, protests, boycotts and worker strikes. Letters are good for keeping in touch with friends. Period.
4) Everyone reading this should support small farmers and put local pressure on grocery stores to purchase meat, dairy and vegetables from local farms and farm workers cooperatives. Moreover, remember that consumer (sic) 'power' does not equal democratic participation. 'Voting with your wallets' as the trite expression goes, is not enough to protect small farms, Black farmers or the People of Color who exude tremendous dignity and pride despite being systematically exploited by a majority-white population who would rather see them die of pesticide poisoning than give them equal rights, health care, a fair wage and/or citizenship (in the case of non-US born workers). That is, of course, the only conclusion one can draw if one looks at the actual policies and deeds of most US citizens, as opposed to the faux-egalitarian rhetoric of Republican liars, spineless Democrats and the so-called 'progressive base'.
Small farmers and farmworkers are the reason we all eat everyday. The least we can do is show them a little fuck*ng respect instead of posting stupid comments about tofu and Sen. Obama.
Myself and several of my friends from school routinely go to the local organic community farm here and volunteer to help set up the market on weekends. In return, we get two full bags of organic produce, freshly harvested, for free. Not bad, eh?
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I think, therefore I am dangerous.
Is there ANYBODY pure enough for you ultra rigid leftists?
Kman2 get a clue!
Respecting the rights of labor, the right not to be discriminated against and asking the leader in natural foods to step up is not about rigid ultra leftist purity. It's about common decency -- something you obviously have no clue about!
I've noticed that "liberalism" in this country has drifted from basic economics and peace issues to PC identity politics and where you buy tofu. So many college educated "liberals" are so removed from working class life or having family in the military that people think "Hey, I bought tofu today and did my yoga, so I'm a leftie!" The bread and butter stuff (no pun intended) doesn't exist on their radar.
The piece says Obama claims to support the workers. I hope this means he would push to repeal Taft-Hartley, without which this problem would have been solved along time ago. I wouldn't hold my breath.
Obama & the Dems will have at least TWO YEARS of NO EXCUSES to repeal Taft-Hartley.
NO EXCUSES.
In Canada, PC stands for Progressive Conservative and Liberal is a right of centre party.
If Breast Cancer signed the petition it is to do with more than just worker rights - there are the pesticides on your vegetables and the hormones added to your meat. It is cheaper to rely on that stuff for food production just like it is cheaper not to pay one's employees a living wage - two aspects of the same issue really. And remember that poison they added to baby formula in China and how they have to pull certain candies off the shelves in both our countries because of the use of what we thought were milk bi-products from China. Those who take short cuts that endanger the health and well-being of their customers also tend to treat their workers shoddily - it is all part of the same disease.
I am not a big meat either either, but I like my chicken, my ground beef and my weiners. I think that ribs are flavourless waste of money and that steak is something that you don't really miss even a good steak. And that foods that are hard to chew should be avoided if possible at all costs because it hurts when you chew it, and if you break your dentures it costs you money you can't afford.
Sorry, but I can't agree with those posting here who say that everyone MUST be a vegetarian. It's simply not true.
In the late 1970s I discovered nutrition and the world of alternative health. I was a vegetarian 3 times, each time for years. The last time it was vegan. DIET FOR A SMALL PLANET was my bible for a long time.
Well, guys, it just didn't work. Vegetarianism just doesn't work for everyone. For some people there are protein requirements that simply cannot be addressed with a veggie diet. It just doesn't work for everyone.
I wish it did.
I wish I didn't HAVE to eat meat - even if it is organic.
I feel better and my health is greatly improved with eating meat. I have no intention of committing suicide or being constantly sick because I don't eat meat.
I don't eat it every day but I purchase organic meat. I do my best to live as sustainably as possible.
I think you need to re-think your position on this issue. There is NO one-size-fits-all when it comes to nutrition.
antifascist,
I'm a vegetarian, and am also a (competitive) weightlifter: I have high protein requirements. I don't find it a problem to meet those protein requirements as a vegetarian.
(low fat) Cottage cheese, (low fat) cheeses, milk, tofu, and the various types of meat replacement veggie "burgers" are all great sources of protein.
If you still can't get enough protein from food, you can also supplement with protein powder that you can get from any sports nutrition store, or even some organic food stores. And you can supplement the creatine that is contained in meats, which you won't obtain if you are a vegetarian, via non animal creatine powder (synthetic) that you can obtain from any sports nutrition store, or even some organic food stores.
even vegans can get ample amounts of protein from non-dairy products. You mentioned tofu (soybean) but there are also things like avocado, beans, broccoli, brussle sprouts, cabbage, leeks, chives and more.
I didn't mention foods like beans or legumes, or avocados, because protein isn't the main / major macronutrient, in those foods; getting enough protein from those foods, for someone who might have a high(er) protein requirement is fairly difficult. For example, 100 grams of avocados contains about 2 grams of protein, 15 grams of fat, and 8-9 grams of carbohydrate.
And getting enough protein from broccoli, or cabbage really isn't realistic. He'd have to eat humongous amounts of broccoli / cabbage / brussels sprouts to get enough protein.
A vegan who has high(er) protein requirements is going to be eating quite a bit of tofu or soy based products.
rfloh,
I am a vegetarian and a serious bodybuilder as well, though I do not do it competitively. Though I do use soy products and eat the fake "meats" (like Boca, etc), I use them very sparingly. I also do not use the protein shakes. My main source of protein comes from beans, lentils, chick peas, and nuts. I have become quite adept at making all kinds of recipes with those ingredients in them, including using meat recipes and simply replacing the meat with black beans or kidney beans. (I cook all the time.)
I do not say this to sound conceited but I have been able to build very good muscle in this way. It CAN be done. You don't really need the excess amount of protein that many people believe you do.
As another example, I would point to Jack Lalanne. He was a competitive bodybuilder before it was the big business it is today. He has been vegetarian for most of his life, and he is in his 90s and looks like he is in his 60s.
Furthermore (and my final point), there are plenty of bodybuilders out there who are raw foodists - they don't eat anything cooked.
Blessings,
John
John,
You don't have to convince me that it's possible to be a vegetarian athlete. I'm vegetarian, like I said in my original post.
I do know that it CAN be done. In case it wasn't clear from my post, my point is that it is HARDER / more work if you want to be a vegan athlete who just subsists on nuts, beans etc. Protein is not the main macronutrient in those foods. Which means you need to adjust your diet in other ways to fit those foods in. It's (much) more work. For some people, this isn't a problem. For others, it is.
And I do actually like eating vegetables. But eating (enough) vegetables to meet protein requirements is pretty unrealistic for most people.
As for the amount of protein needed, that's another debate altogether.
The original poster said that he has trouble meeting his high protein requirements with a vegetarian diet, and that he needs meat. I don't believe advising him to eat more beans, or avocados, or nuts, or cabbage, or broccoli is going to achieve anything. Since he said that he's tried to be vegetarian before, he like has already tried those.
And according to some studies, dehydrated wheatgrass has three times the protein composition as beef.
The belief that meat products give you a better source of protein than raw foods/vegetables, etc is ridiculous and nothing more than awful propaganda from the meat and dairy industry.
But how can you eat dehydrated wheatgrass? People can't digest grasses..but like an ounce of wheatgrass juice is a pretty damn good source of nutrition (vitamins mostly i believe)
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I think, therefore I am dangerous.
The same way you would eat other forms of dehydrated foods that are powders - by making them into shakes or by mixing them into foods such as stews, soups, etc.
People CAN digest grasses, and wheatgrass happens to be loaded with all kinds of nutrition. Much like in its powder form, you can add the wheatgrass to shakes, etc.
Sorry, I was thinking of dehydrated grass being like hay. I wasn;'t thinking of it ground into powder.
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I think, therefore I am dangerous.
About the same thought I had when I first heard of it a few years ago. : )
I wasn't sure if I should start picturing it coming in big bales, like hay, or not!
I certainly respect your decision. No one knows our own bodies better than each of us. It's certainly a personal choice according to our own needs. May I ask what it was about vegetarianisn that did not work for you and exactly what type of vegetarian diet you followed?
I applaud, and support, the sentiments expressed in Mr. Cummins' letter to John Mackey, founder and chief honcho for Whole Foods. . . . but Mr. Cummins maybe shoulda ought done a little research.
Mackey is virulently antiunion and he always been thus. In fact, I think part of Whole Foods rise in the marketplace was achieved on the backs of under paid workers who have never been able to unionize in Whole Food stores.
Many, many people incorrectly associate Whole Foods with progressive causes. It is pure fantasy to imagine that Whole Foods 'cares' about workers or even the environment.
Whole Foods cares about profit. When he got started, Mackey correctly saw that the organic/whole foods market would grow and he saw that it was a high end niche for a grocery business. He strategically, cynically set out to exploit that market. He has never 'been' about good causes. He is only about making money for himself and other shareholders.
Whole Foods personifies what is wrong with our culture and our religious devotion to capitalism. How many people think they are doing sonmething good for the world (the environment, the earth, themselves) when they shop at Whole Foods?!!
Instead of writing a letter to Mackey, Mr. Cummins, I suggest that you and all the organizations that support the letter you wrote to Mackey do some viral organizaing. Use all the mailing lists of all of these organizations to elicit supoprt for the farmworkers at Beef MW . . . AND call for consumers to boycott Whole Foods.
Everybody's Empire must fall and Whole Foods is no exception.
Just as Krispy Kreme and Starbucks overexpanded, Whole Foods is now facing grave financial consequences for their arrogant attempts to transfer development risks for failed expansion ventures to their real estate developer.
"We are a network of or organic and chemical-free farmers, labor unions, ethical consumers, students, cooperatives and advocates that work in support of "Fair Trade" principles for domestic labor and production."
And I notice that "Breast Cancer Action" is one of the signatories. This group has questions concerning the safety of pesticides as well as workers rights. One of the things that the three Amigos and 30 CEOs are talking about during their SPP (NAFTA on Steroids) meeting is how to harmonize pesticide standards between Canada, the US and Mexico so that we all adopt Mexico's pesticide standards. Seems that they figure that different rules concerning pesticides (which affect vegans as much as the rest of us) impedes the movement of not just beef but vegetables!
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Oh, the latest from the beloved American Ambassador to Canada (who will soon be losing his job):
Fraser Institute=Heritage Foundation
[QUOTE]
Canadians will find themselves missing U.S. President George W. Bush if the next administration tinkers with the free trade deal, the American ambassador to Canada says.
Speaking at a Fraser Institute engagement in Montreal, David Wilkins said that the next president should check the facts and figures on the benefits of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
He said that person "will realize that it is so beneficial that they will not risk rescinding NAFTA or losing NAFTA and they'll continue to support NAFTA."
[/QUOTE]
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/10/29/nafta-cnd.html
Obama didn't just voice his disagreement with Wilkins but here are a sampling of reader comments as well - the politer comments any way:
scottyb wrote: LOL. Miss Bush? Not a chance. That's like missing smallpox.....
Pens # 1 wrote: Bush is like having diarrhea for 8 years. Ask anyone if they miss that. His 8 years wont easily be forotton by anyone, anywhere. As for Free Trade..whoever you ask has an opinion on it anyway.
SarcasticDJ wrote: ...and the fear mongering continues. Little does the US Ambassador realise, that many Canadians want NAFTA re-negotiated as well.
Natalie_1066 wrote: Readers: If you look into Wilkins' history since arriving in Ottawa you will find that is not the only bone-headed statement he has made.
BrotherVibe wrote: But really, if bulk water exports go south, and private H.M.O.'s come north, as NAFTA is set up to do, the only thing I'll be missing is the Canada I knew and loved.
NoOrdinaryShroom wrote: Ooooo, an opportunity to get out of NAFTA, if only we had a Prime Minister that would find the kahonies to stand up to that and negotiate in OUR favour. / In the news a while ago. / DOW is suing the Quebec provincial government because the province banned pesticides and herbicides. DOW claims that the government has 'expropriated' profits for the corporation and is owed that money. / Back to one of my other comments. When did we owe the corporations a living?
BrandonB wrote: NAFTA Causes death. Ask any indiginous Mexican. Destruction of the environment, increase in the gap between rich and poor, (snipped)
BillBell wrote: Notice that Wilkins was addressing the Fraser Institute. Now take a look at their web site, glance at their claim that they do not government lobbying and accept no government funding and then look at the page that displays their Board of Directors. A quick Google search informs me that Steve Harper appointed the Chairman, Mr Hassan Khosrowshahi, as a Commissioner to the Public Appointments Commission in May of 2006. According to wikipedia this guy "had a net worth of $592 million CDN in 2006." In that same May announcement we read, "Today’s announcement builds on the Prime Minister’s nomination on April 26, 2006 of Mr. Gwyn Morgan as the first Chairperson of the Public Appointments Commission." Morgan is also on the Fraser Institute Board and he is President and CEO of Encana, the world's largest independent oil and gas producer.
Why would anyone shop at Whole Foods? When prices are that outrageous shopping there allows for these prices to exist - poor people like myself can't afford the basic necessity.
I'm a vegan; yes, I want workers to be treated fairly but I want them to seek ethical work, too.
"When prices are that outrageous..."
That's why I call that store Whole Paycheck.
There are some things at Whole Foods I can;t find anywhere else. Canned tuna without salt added? Only at WHole Foods in their store brand. Bulk cereals (as in grains, not cereal brands), nuts, dried fruit, trail mixes, etc, you can measure out how much you want....plus wheatgrass juice in the bakery (can't find that anywhere else), awesome smoothies, prepared meals and snacks at the deli, very high-quality meats and cheese...I can keep going. I kinda miss it here a school, there isn't one around here. And I'm pretty poor, but one thing I will spend money on is quality food.
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I think, therefore I am dangerous.
because here in D.C., there are items I need that I can ONLY het at WF, and prices are a LOT cheaper than at Giant/Safeway. I would prefer to shop at the union supermarket, but just can't afford it.
"no gods, no masters" --m. sanger
I don't know but a friend of mine who lives near one told me that he shops there only for hemp cereal and grass-fed milk. I don't have a WF store near me so I don't know what goes on there. I have to travel 260 miles to Minneapolis to see what one looks like !
Terrance Mitchell
Redfield, South Dakota
Why should I care?
People who eat meat(whether organic or not) when they can be vegetarian contribute to Global warming, deforestation, wildlife slaughter, wasting of water, pollution of ecosystems, and the slavery and torture of innocent beings who get treated far worse than the most despised criminals.
The only good thing I will say about the letter is they didnt throw in a ridiculous jab at animal welfare like Eric Schlosser loves to do when discussing farm workers. Apparently, in his eyes not getting paid properly for picking tomatoes is the same as being castrated, enslaved, and dismembered when alive.
Now that's fair and balance.
Callousness won't achieve anything.
This story is about working conditions and a workers right to organize, not vetarianism.
Your effete liberal-snob-callousness toward farm workers is chilling.
As a vegan - not a vegetarian - I agree.
It would have been one thing to point out the social, ecological and ethical impacts of livestock farming and consumption, but to say "why should I care?" is pretty callous. I agree with the other person that there is an adversity here to their line of work which should be considered in production planning, but so long as the industry exists in this economic system it ought to be protected and remunerated fairly.
I thought all vegans were vegetarians, but not all vegetarians were vegans... right? So you are a vegetarian too.
many, if not most "vegeteraians" eat eggs and dairy, "vegans" don't.
Right, which is why vegans are a subset of vegetarian, which is what I just stated.
as absurd as this is I will respond:
no, you made a silly comment that all vegans are vegetarian but not all vegetarians are vegan and then asked if i was a vegetarian.
i dont eat eggs or dairy, so it would be inaccurate to classify me as a vegetarian, or a subset thereof.
I mean, would you classify omnivores as a "subset" of vegetarianism because they eat plants too?
Kind of like how Christianity is a subset of Judaism :-)
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I think, therefore I am dangerous.