By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Staff Writer
tmcqueen@afro.com
Over a year and a half ago, workers of a Whole Foods Market in Philadelphia came together under the need for better work conditions, fair and equitable pay and healthcare for part-time workers. On Jan. 28, workers voted to become the first Whole Foods Market store to unionize.
Photo Credit: Courtesy photo (Right): Following her family’s tradition of being labor union supporters, Khyania Adams, 32, becomes a union member at Philadelphia’s Whole Foods—the first store in the company to unionize.
Photo Credit: Courtesy photo
Black workers were at the head of this movement, including Mase Veney, a 26-year-old produce worker at Whole Foods, and Khyania Adams, 32, who joined the movement just two months after starting her job at Whole Foods as a chef.
Veney provided an inside look into the work conditions they’re looking to change.
“The cooler is small,” said Veney. “I’m stacking boxes higher, which is dangerous for my back. We shouldn’t be lifting heavy boxes high up. We’re losing full-timers and hiring part-timers back, which I know is putting more of a workload on the people who do the loading.”
Veney said he’s gone from doing the loading “once maybe twice a week, which is good for the body” but now “I’m doing it three, four times a week.”
Adams said she was influenced to join the movement in part because of her family’s ongoing support of unions but also because of the inconsistencies she saw.
Adams said she discussed with a Whole Foods hiring manager about the job being a “mutual benefit” ensuring that she’d have a consistent schedule with a set amount of hours to allow her to work for Whole Foods full-time but have a good work-life balance.
But when Adams got on the job she found that “If you are not available for three-fourths of the entire week then you are considered restricted and you could be knocked down to part-time.”
Adams said she also found that she was not being paid what she was reasonably owed for the skill levels she brought to the job.
“Because of the experience that I brought to the table, they only bumped me up 50 cents from the starting rate, which I thought was kind of crazy,” said Adams. “I bring 17 years of experience. That didn’t necessarily align with what I thought or what I envisioned Whole Foods offering folks like me.”
Black Americans have been a part of labor union movements since at least the 1830s when Black workers in the caulking trade led a strike at the Washington Navy Yard in 1835.
“The start of organized labor unions kind of gave Black Americans a little bit more of a voice in the workplace,” said Adams. “It gave a lot of people who were low-income and middle-class a voice in how things should be operated in the workplace, providing protections against firing.”
According to 2022 Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data Black Americans account for around 13 percent of all U.S. workers.
Veney and Adams helped articulate the importance of having Black Americans now participate in and lead labor movements today.
“It was deeper than bringing a coworker together. Seeing a couple of Black people bringing together other Black people in the store, and us coming together and fighting for what we want, was very touching to me,” said Veney. “It’s been, ‘I have to worry about myself, I can’t worry about you.’ It’s been that way within the Black community. To start this with another Black man and a Black woman, and bring other Black coworkers together, that meant a lot to me.”
The road to victory was not easy, as Veney and Adams articulated how Whole Foods leaders worked to divide and conquer.
“They tried to give certain people, certain things and certain accolades to try to separate us,” said Adams. “For us to come together, especially as Black men, and to stay strong and still win, even through all of them trying to separate us. That was big for me.”
In response to the union’s win and the concerns mentioned, Whole Foods said they made sure to follow all legal requirements throughout the unionization process.
“Whole Foods Market is proud to offer competitive compensation, great benefits and career advancement opportunities to all team members,” said a Whole Foods spokesperson. “We are disappointed by the outcome of this election, but we are committed to maintaining a positive working environment in our Philly Center City store.”
For workers looking to organize, Adams offers a word of encouragement.
“Keep fighting,” she said. “There are always going to be nay-sayers who are going to tell you that this is not plausible and that can never happen. But, what you do is keep fighting and keep going until you can’t anymore.”
Adams also said it’s good to “take those breaks” as it’s “going to be a long fight.”
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