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Whole Foods Is Tracking Employees With Heat Map Tool Ranking Stores Most At Risk To Unionize

Whole Foods Is Tracking Employees With Heat Map Tool Ranking Stores Most At Risk To Unionize

Whole Foods
Amazon-owned Whole Foods is tracking its employees with a heat map tool that ranks stores most at risk to unionize. Stores with low racial diversity are at higher risk of unionizing.

Amazon-owned Whole Foods really doesn’t want its employees to unionize. 

The company is quietly tracking its staff with a heat map tool that ranks which stores are most at risk of unionizing, according to five people with knowledge of the situation and internal documents viewed by Business Insider.

The ranking scores are based on more than two dozen metrics, including racial diversity, employee loyalty, “tipline” calls, and violations recorded by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Business Insider reported.

Whole Foods said it respects workers’ rights to unionize. “Whole Foods Market recognizes the rights of our Team Members to decide whether union representation is right for them. We agree with the overwhelming majority of our Team Members that a direct relationship with Whole Foods Market and its leadership, where Team Members have open lines of communication and every individual is empowered to share feedback directly with their team leaders, is best.”

Using the heat tracking map isn’t really anything new. It’s common practice among large companies, labor experts say. In fact, U.S. companies spent at least $100 million on consulting services for anti-union campaigns between 2014 and 2017, according to data from the Economic Policy Institute based on disclosure forms filed with the U.S. Department of Labor.

The map tracks three main areas: “external risks,” “store risks,” and “team member sentiment.” Race plays a factor too. The heat map system used by Whole Foods indicates that lower rates of racial diversity increase unionization risks.

“Store-risk metrics include average store compensation, average total store sales, and a ‘diversity index’ that represents the racial and ethnic diversity of every store. Stores at higher risk of unionizing have lower diversity and lower employee compensation, as well as higher total store sales and higher rates of workers’ compensation claims, according to the documents,” Business Insider reported.

“Employers spend millions of dollars a year to hire union avoidance advisers to see how susceptible they are to their workers organizing,” Celine McNicholas, the director of government affairs and labor counsel for the Economic Policy Institute, said.

Whole Foods is trying to keep its employees from unionizing because unions give workers more bargaining power when it comes to such things as wages and health benefits like employer-sponsored healthcare. According to research, unionized workers tend to earn higher wages and are more likely to receive healthcare. Unions could also boost the chances of employee strikes, which can affect a business’s bottom line.

Even though Whole Foods is trying to prevent its stores from unionizing, under U.S. labor law employees’ have a right to unionize. 

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Whole Foods parent company, Amazon, has long fought against unionizing by its workers. In 2018, the company sent a 45-minute anti-union training video to Whole Foods team leaders, The Verge reported.

 “Throughout, the video claims Amazon prefers a ‘direct management’ structure where employees can bring grievances to their bosses individually, rather than union representation,” according to Gizmodo, which obtained the video.

Recently, Amazon fired warehouse worker Chris Smalls who organized a walkout in New York City over working conditions during the coronavirus pandemic. The company claimed he violated COVID-19 safety instructions after he came into contact with a co-worker who tested positive for the virus.