Friday, May 16, 2008



AMERICAN LABOUR:

CONTINUED PRESSURE ON WHOLE FOODS:

For several months now the United Farm Workers have been applying pressure on Whole Foods to put pressure on their beef supplier Beef Northwest to deal fairly with their workers, represented by the UFW. Despite a previous petition, reported here at Molly's Blog, which was signed by over 13,000 people, Whole Foods is still intransigent. here is the latest appeal from the UFW on this matter.

................................

Whole Foods Breaks Their Promise
What happened to your petition?
On April 14, a delegation of workers from Beef Northwest met with Whole Foods' Vice-President Edmund La Maccia and presented a copy of the online petition that you and more than 13,000 people signed. During the meeting, the Whole Foods representative said he was moved by the workers' stories. He said he would contact Beef Northwest and urge that they sit down with the UFW to resolve this issue. He told the workers he'd let us know how Beef Northwest responded.






His promises excited the workers. However, it appears they were only words. To date, Whole Foods is back to ignoring the UFW’s e-mails and phone calls.





Meanwhile, the Beef Northwest continues to pressure farm workers who support the UFW. Workers are afraid for their jobs and tired of company pressure. Fortunato Diaz, one of the workers who went to Austin, tells us about the increasing pressure he must endure since he went to talk to Whole Foods. He said, "The attention in my work has been more towards myself from the supervisors of this company because they are checking my work more that what they used to. Basically what they are doing is spying on me and the supervisors are just waiting for any little mistake from me so they can fire me."



Whole Foods sells approximately 60% of all Country Natural Beef produced at the Beef Northwest Feedlots. Tell Whole Foods that their lack of response is not acceptable.
Send Whole Foods an e-mail today. It's time for Whole Foods to do the right thing and not just talk.
Go to the following link to read more and send the letter that follows:
http://www.ufwaction.org/ct/CpzuCuF18PpC/take-action
Letter to Whole Foods:
Thank you for meeting with Beef Northwest workers and UFW representatives on April 14. We are grateful for you taking your time and listening to the workers stories. However, you did not honor the promises you made to us at the conclusion of the meeting including talking to Beef Northwest management about resolving the situation and remaining in contact with us to help move the issue forward. To date the workers and the UFW have heard nothing from you and you have not returned their calls and e-mails.





You have disappointed workers whose toil brings Country Natural Beef to your customers. The more than 13,000 consumers who signed the petition are very dissatisfied with the indifference on part of Whole Foods. We were led to believe that Whole Foods had integrity, which appears not to be the case.






It's time for action, not just talk. Contact Beef Northwest immediately and communicate their response to the workers.


I look forward to hearing positive feedback about Whole Foods corporate responsibility on this matter.

No comments: