All around the country and the Twin Cities, workers are employed at low-income jobs that don’t pay the bills. Many companies value corporate profits over the well-being of workers. While CEOs are paid millions of dollars, some workers are not even paid living wages. Health benefits are often minimal or non-existent. Workers injured on the job often lack fair compensation. They have little or no job security and can be fired at the whim of their employer.

Unionizing gives workers a voice in the workplace so that they may secure better wages and benefits. Nationally, union workers earn 28 percent more on average than non-union workers and are significantly more likely to receive health care and pension benefits.

The union gives workers much more power, which can be used to force a profit-focused corporation to place a much greater emphasis its workers’ well-being.

Unionizing a workplace is not an easy task. There are a whole lot of very anti-union companies that will take almost any action to stop workers from organizing. When word gets back to corporate headquarters that workers in a store are thinking about organizing, many companies send in a swat team of professional union-busters. The swat team goes into the store espousing anti-union propaganda and pressures workers to oppose unionizing. There are laws to protect the rights of workers to organize, but, shockingly, sometimes corporations break these laws and go so far as to fire workers for supporting union efforts.

One such company has a store right in our neighborhood that many of us shop at: Whole Foods. Given that Whole Foods promotes itself as an earthy, power-to-the-people, leftist company, it’s distressing that it is so very anti-union. As an article in The Madison Insurgent put it, Whole Foods has “built its success on the commodification of progressive ideals for profit.” It seems that profit has been given priority over workers’ quality of life. The words of John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods, indicate just how anti-union the company is. “The union is like having herpes. It doesn’t kill you, but it’s unpleasant and inconvenient and it stops a lot of people from becoming your lover.”

Workers at the Whole Foods store in Madison, Wisconsin have had enough of low wages and poor treatment by management. A majority of workers signed cards indicating their desire to be represented by the local branch of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) in Madison. The company initially refused to accept the union representation. The union asked the National Labor Relations Board to conduct an election. Despite intense lobbying by managers and a team of corporate anti-union propagandists, a solid majority of workers voted to join the union. They are currently negotiating a contract with the company.

The opposition to workers’ rights to organize has, however, continued. After the vote, Whole Foods refused to recognize the union and appealed the vote as illegitimate to the National Labor Relations Board. In November, two employees who were instrumental to the organizing drive were fired from their jobs, ostensibly for giving away a spoiled soft drink. Such a minor offense would normally cause little more than a verbal reprimand by management. The two were likely fired because of their support for the union.

The Mac Dems, Mac Greens, Mac Peace and Justice Committee and SLAC are coming together with the local branch of the UFCW to tell the community about Whole Foods’ anti-union practices. We want to pressure Whole Foods management to rehire the two fired workers and to stop their anti-union practices, and we would also like our local Whole Foods store to be unionized. The reasons why a union would benefit Whole Foods workers are clear: workers need the ability to collectively bargain with management to ensure themselves fair wages, good working conditions and an organization of support in times of duress. Furthermore, the low wages paid at Whole Foods are a threat to workers at other grocery stores in the area—competition from Whole Foods pushes other stores to try to cut costs by reducing wages and benefits.

So what can Macalester students do? At noon this Saturday, Dec. 7 on the second floor of the Campus Center, students will be meeting with an organizer from UFCW Local 789. We’ll get a briefing on the situation at Whole Foods and will then walk down and talk with people outside the store about Whole Foods’ despicable practices in Madison and the corporation’s virulent opposition to worker organizing. Please come and join us. And if you know anyone who works at Whole Foods please encourage them to think about the benefits of unionizing. UFCW 789 would love to talk with them

In the aftermath of a demoralizing election, we hope you’ll carry on the effort that was stalled one month ago to improve our community. Join us in the struggle to improve the lives of working people. You only have to walk two blocks from Macalester to do so.

This organizing effort is sponsored by UFCW 789, Mac Democrats, Mac Greens, the Mac Peace and Justice Committee, and the Student-Labor Action Committee. For more information feel free to contact Danny at dschwartzman@macalester.edu or 330-7484.