At a Whole Foods Market in Philadelphia, a battle is brewing. About 300 workers will vote Monday on whether to form the first union at Amazon’s grocery business.
Many store workers say they hope the union can negotiate higher wages, above the current average of $16 an hour. They also intend to protect part-time workers’ health insurance and layoff protection.
There’s a broader goal, too: to encourage a wave of organizing throughout the grocery chain, adding to the union drives among warehouse workers and delivery drivers that Amazon is already fighting.
“If all the different sectors that make it work can demand more, have more control, have more say in the work – that would be the beginning of withdrawing the power that Amazon has, or at least putting it in check,” said Ed Dupree, an employee in the product department. Mr. Dupree has worked at Whole Foods since 2016 and previously worked in an Amazon warehouse.
Managers see things differently. “A union is not needed at Whole Foods Market,” the company said in a statement, adding that it recognizes workers’ right to “make an informed decision.”
The workers said that since they went public with their union campaign last week, store managers have raided the workers to monitor them, put up posters with anti-union messages in the rest rooms and meetings that discredit the unions.
Audrey Ta, who fulfills online orders at the store, said she plans to vote in favor of unionizing with the United Food and Commercial Workers, but there is uneasiness among the workers. He has stopped entering his pin at work.
“People put their heads down and try to talk so they don’t talk about it,” said Ms. Ta. “The management is really paying attention to what we’re talking about.”
Whole Foods said it complied with all legal requirements when communicating with workers through unions.
UFCW Local 1776, which represents workers in Pennsylvania, filed a civil lawsuit with the National Labor Relations Board, accusing Whole Foods of firing the worker in retaliation for supporting the union. The union also blamed the chain for not including the store’s employees from a raise this month for all its other employees in the Philadelphia area.
“They treat them differently,” said Wendell Young IV, president of UFCW Local 1776. “They discriminate against them for trying to form a union.”
Whole Foods has denied allegations of retaliation. The company argued that it could not legally change wages during an election, and that it delayed the increase until after the election to avoid the appearance of trying to influence votes.
Most of the store’s workers signed union authorization cards last year before the union filed for an election. But Ben Lovett, the activist who led the organization, said he expects the election to be close.
Whole Foods is the latest part of Amazon’s business to face union expectations. In 2022, Staten Island workers voted to form the first Amazon union in the United States; now affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Amazon disputed the election’s outcome and refused to agree or negotiate with the union pending a court challenge.
Delivery drivers, who work for third-party package delivery companies that serve Amazon from California to New York, have also campaigned with the Teamsters.
Rob Jennings, an employee in the prepared food section of the Philadelphia store, has worked there for nearly two decades. He said he saw a series of changes after Amazon bought the chain in 2017: a program that gave employees a share of store budget surplus was scrapped, part-time workers lost health insurance, staffing levels began to decline.
Although Whole Foods was never a worker’s paradise, Mr. Jennings said, “I have a dream to get back all the things they took.”
Whole Foods in a statement said that the discontinued profit sharing program did not benefit all employees equally and the company invested in its replacement; that part-time workers lost the ability to purchase health insurance through the company and did not lose subsidized health insurance; that part-time workers receive other benefits such as store discounts and a 401(k) plan; and that the company is committed to keeping stores properly staffed.
Khy Adams first got to know the Philadelphia store as a high school hangout. He had wanted to work there for years when, in August, he got a job managing a bar.
But he didn’t get the work-life balance he wanted, he said, with managers expecting an unreasonable level of availability. He said he hoped that the union could help improve conditions.
In addition to Amazon’s setback, political change in Washington could create obstacles. After the Biden administration embraced unions, President Trump is expected to appoint a new general counsel for the NLRB whose approach could make it harder for campaign organizations to succeed.
“Amazon has a machine behind it to extend this, to shut this down, to make it very difficult for us to continue working,” Ms. Adams said of the merger.
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