You would probably expect Whole Foods grocery stores to join the ‘woke’ movement. After all, a lot of big box stores have taken a hard left turn over the last year under liberal pressure. That’s not really the case with the Whole Food giant. They’ve taken a different approach and decided to not just ban employees from wearing MAGA gear, but anything that has the BlackLivesMatter logo on it as well.
A lot of conservatives have grown used to being told not to sport their political gear in the workplace but liberals on the other hand? They’re not used to hearing the word ‘no’ and it shows. They want their participation trophy and have taken legal action to try and pressure the store to get on board.
“Whole Foods is defending itself amid an effort from National Labor Relations Board prosecutors to force the Amazon-owned grocery chain to allow its employees to wear “Black Lives Matter” attire while they are at work, despite the company’s longstanding policy forbidding all slogans in its dress code.
NLRB prosecutors accused Whole Foods last month of violating U.S. labor law by allegedly punishing workers who wore BLM masks in 2020. The prosecutors are pursuing labor charges on the basis that workers have the right under federal labor laws to engage in collective action related to workplace issues.
Whole Foods fired back, arguing that BLM has nothing to do with collective action in the workplace, and that NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo is actually trying to violate the retailer’s own constitutional rights under the First Amendment by trying to “compel employer speech.”
“The Amazon-owned grocery chain denied any wrongdoing in response to a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) complaint that it had infringed on federal law by enforcing a workplace dress code barring the apparel.
In the Dec. 17 legal filing, Whole Foods accused NLRB general counsel Jennifer Abruzzo of an effort to “compel” speech in violation of the First Amendment.
The grocery chain also accused Abruzzo of “unlawfully infringing upon and/or diluting WFM’s protected trademarks” through her legal action by forcing Whole Foods to allow “political message in conjunction with” its uniforms, Bloomberg reported.
In the filing, Whole Foods argued that the protections offered by the National Labor Relations Act do not extend to “political and/or social justice speech.”
Watch
Thus far, Whole Foods has been holding firm. Kind of surprising given their affiliation to Amazon, but in a world of constant polarization, it’s a breath of fresh air to see an ounce of balance. What do you think? Let me know in the comments below.
Erica Carlin is an independent journalist, opinion writer and contributor to several news and opinion sources. She is based in Georgia.
