Amazon.com’s Whole Foods Market doesn’t want to be forced to let workers wear “Black Lives Matter” masks and is pointing to the recent US Supreme Court ruling permitting a business owner to refuse services to same-sex couples to get federal regulators to back off.
National Labor Relations Board prosecutors have accused the grocer of stifling worker rights by banning staff from wearing BLM masks or pins on the job. The company countered in a filing that its own rights are being violated if it’s forced to allow BLM slogans to be worn with Whole Foods uniforms.
Amazon is the most prominent company to use the high court’s June ruling that a Christian web designer was free to refuse to design sites for gay weddings, saying the case “provides a clear roadmap” to throw out the NLRB’s complaint.
The dispute is one of several in which labor board officials are considering what counts as legally-protected, work-related communication and activism on the job.
It's not "Whole Foods" it's Amazon. Whole Foods died when Amazon bought them.
source: I'm from Austin and know several people that work there from employees to management. They killed everything that was whole foods.
Pretty sure Whole Foods had shitty conservative executives back then too didn’t they?
I'm pretty sure it was one of the best places to work in the retail/grocery industry because of their profit sharing.
And then Amazon bought them and as I'm certain it was fucking awful to work there.
edit: seems familiar.. package deliveries, pickers, warehouse workers, pee bottles
That's because they largely bought out most of the places that were better to work at.
You can't escape those fucks living in Texas. They're everywhere.
It was shitty and ruled by a worker abusing chud before Lord Bezos bought it, too.
After reading this, why am I getting a feeling in my stomach that reminds me of being on a roller coaster right before a big drop? Why do I feel like all of America is going to be like that very soon?
My gut says it's going to be more complicated than that. I believe in people and at a certain point the reactionary stuff is going to overplay their hand and I think we're already seeing it.
At a certain point this stuff just breaks down, people will lose their patience. In my wildest dreams the 2020 riots were a kind of dress rehearsal for something more organized in the future. Eventually I think liberals might lose their ability to usurp movements.
Don't get me wrong, we're headed for bad times, but we don't have to feel doomed. Believe in people.
I believe in a subset of people. But that subset of people is not enough to prevent things from getting very ugly.
I expect we'll have something to eclipse 2020. But I also expect there's going to be a very strong reactionary backlash waiting in the wings again. I'm hoping to secure more viable refuges by that point.
Oh yeah, there will be a bigger reactionary backlash, and that backlash will cause even more "normal unaffiliated" people to realize what's at stake. I don't mean to sound accelerationist or apocalyptic, but everything has a breaking point and pronounced change only comes through conflict.
I think we're seeing a little bit of it through the abortion bans. People are genuinely pissed off about that.
We just have to hope there will be enough people who won't tolerate reactionaries. I can't say what will happen, but you're right, it might get very ugly soon. But at the same time we can't say we're already defeated
I fully expect to see the day when all those liberals figure out that they should've paid more attention to that guy with the two cows who kept telling them to arm up and be ready instead of constantly banning him from all the platforms
there's a balance. arming up and prepping without organizations is pointless - the paramilitaries will crush a lone homesteader. community defense requires a whole community.
If you harbor 5 fugitives, you have something to fear from the government. If you harbor 500 fugitives, the government has something to fear from you.
What I'm saying is, when the time comes, I hope you'll have way more than 2 cows.
I'm not saying we are or will be vanquished. I am saying that the balance of guns and land is not in our favor (although the balance of distribution infrastructure is slightly in favor of the libs).
Liberals will largely stand by if fascism takes over, especially in this country. One of the best hopes we have is that the military would crack down on a coup, and the balance of representation in the military is very much not in our favor. The other best hope is balkanization or at least devolution, where state and local governments become more relevant than the federal government and this allows us to thrive in pockets.
it's a cycle that keeps escalating so long as profits get squeezed tighter and tighter. at some point the whole system breaks and the only question is who seizes power when that happens. if we have orgs and can channel popular discontent, it will be us. if not, we'll be posting from the camps. the future is not yet written - projecting the present forward into the future is good at telling you what will happen next week but it's a shitty approximation before you even get out to a year.
Any way you put it, things are going to get crazy. That's why I'm getting that feeling.
Also that ruling was over a fake issue that didnt happen so it's an entirely fraudulent ruling to begin with.
I think we can compromise by not wearing BLM masks and instead wear Fuck Tha Police masks
I'm hoping this will break liberal fantasies about trusting certain corporations, but it probably won't. It'll push more suburban white liberals into the maw of being reactionary.
Is it accelerationist of me to want comfortable suburban liberals to just become conservatives already? They're already most of the way there and it would help more properly delineate where the political divides really are.
Shit, that's kinda what I want. I want to quit having to pretend I want to coddle them and start shitting on them at every possible opportunity.
Shit I'm way past that. I'm ready to watch the world burn so people are forced to deal with the consequences of their treachery toward this planet and her people. Complacency needs to be eliminated.
I have worked for companies that have rules stating no logos/brand names could be noticeable. So a black pair of shoes that had a Nike check on it would be considered unacceptable. I always worried the dickies emblem on my work pants might cause issue. White socks were an issue which since you are wearing long pants and shoes... shouldn't even be noticeable. All tattoos had to be covered, no facial hair allowed, and no piercings. Hair color must be a natural color.
I think the concept behind BLM is good, but I would have never thought wearing a mask with their logo on it would be allowable work attire.
iiuc, wf is not saying that customers can't wear BLM masks. They don't want to show a political stance and, as a result, don't want BLM masks worn by their employees, because that could be misconstrued as wf or Amazon taking a political stance. I can understand that. However, they, then, must ban ALL shows of politics in their store by them and their employees, and that includes LGBTQIA+ stuff. Otherwise, they're just banning BLM stuff, which will be
misconstrued (notice the crossed out 'mis') as them taking a political stance against black folks.imagine realizing this and going "they should ban queer people" instead of "banning politics is impossible because there's no such thing as an apolitical stance"
You're right. Banning politics is impossible. That's my point. I don't think anyone can logically argue against the stance that black lives matter nor against the stance that the LGBTQIA+ folk lives matter. However, by taking the stance that BLM masks are not allowed but other masks are allowed, Amazon is also taking the stance that black lives don't matter. Whether or not this is intentional, is irrelevant.
I'll give you an example of a workplace doing it mostly right. My old employer didn't do many things right, but for political stances, they did. "No graphics, logos, or lettering, unless Company's, on shirts, jackets, pants, etc. is allowed while inside the building, whether on shift or off" When covid hit, this extended to the masks with the "etc." part. When George Floyd was murdered, for example, some of the employees (myself, and HR, included) wanted to wear the "I can't breathe" masks. We weren't allowed. Some of us did anyway, and just prepared to take the write-up. The write-up never came, because corporate silently supported us and the stances we took. However, rules are rules, so we got a "talking to" and a tisk-tisk finger wave.
Banning potentially offensive political stances in the workplace is important to a degree, but you have to understand that some things are not political stances so much as they are supporting the lives and rights of other humans. After Amazon management staff had pools going on who of their floor employees would die next from covid during the start of it all, I highly doubt that the company understands (or cares about) the value of human life, so it's no surprise they're banning BLM masks from their employees. Whole foods, I know. But wf is Amazon.
Very simple fix
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureau_of_Land_ManagementNow Amazon is an anti-governmental organization
Pin the BLM mask directly to Jeff Bezos fucking face. Staple it if necessary.
It seems like this would hurt their brand to pick this fight, since moronic "conscientious" labor aristocrats are their target demo.
I think they’re counting on a large amount of them not caring once the symbols are out of sight, and after they smooth over the initial outrage with a bit of PR.
bro you're absolutely right bro the status quo isn't political
“ Ask yourself: is there something sinister in moralism? And then answer: no. God is in his heaven. Everything is normal on Earth.”
Just consume product, get excited for next product, and assure yourself that you are smarter than both sides.
Politics are everywhere. You cannot (and don't deserve to) escape them, brunch gremlin. Ooga-booga-booga.
