Whole Foods argues it can ban BLM masks because the Supreme Court let a Christian business owner refuse same-sex couples

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.

Kalkaline, (edited )

Whole Foods is not the business it used to be. Not even close. Any semblance of what that store was when it was privately owned is gone.

GorbinOutOverHere,

spoiler: it’s still privately owned

shottymcb,

deleted_by_author

    •
    silent_water,

    publicly traded is privately owned - buying common stock doesn’t give the public, most of whom are too poor to afford said stock, meaningful control over the business. the stock owning class have interests that directly contradict those of workers (ie the vast, vast majority of us).

    Granixo,
    @Granixo@feddit.cl avatar

    They COULD, they COULD do that!

    https://feddit.cl/pictrs/image/7a7ce32f-7ffa-461f-b1d7-25f4004fcb50.png

    But why? Why would they do that?

    https://feddit.cl/pictrs/image/07039d4f-3aa3-41c9-9a4b-18c2d40a34e8.png

    Blake,

    https://i0.wp.com/www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/photomania-2eac5002d0448ec2aa4f52ed13b88f1d-e1489570975117.jpg?ssl=1

    “Also, I love to spread extremely racist and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories alongside my neofascist buddies!”

    yip-bonk,
    yip-bonk avatar

    Exsqueeze me? What the amazon fuck, WholeFoods.

    SpookyUnderwear,

    You can’t seriously be surprised by this. When you work for a company, especially one that interacts with customers, you’re almost guaranteed to have to follow uniform requirements. This isn’t new.

    Maeve,

    Reason 9,000,975 for not shipping Amazon/Whole Foods.

    dangblingus,

    Tell us how you really feel, Whole Foods!

    NaoPb,

    If they have a dress code for their employess, it’s their right to prevent their employees from wearing anything not up to code. No matter if it’s making a statement or not.

    MeetInPotatoes,

    They’d have to be uniform in its enforcement. For instance, “no pins” would be fine, but “no BLM pins, but MAGA pins are fine” wouldn’t stand.

    NaoPb,

    I agree.

    Lemmywhat,

    My business my freedom

    dangblingus,

    And it’s also everyone else’s prerogative to identify bad faith identity politics running a business and run far away from said business.

    Lowered_lifted,

    When I worked at a big box store for years I wasn’t allowed to wear my BLM shirt or anything “political” but my Trumper coworkers got away with wearing their Trump shirts or Let’s Go Brandon shirts, and they even put Let’s Go Brandon stickers up all aroubd the employee facing areas. If you told managers about it they addressed it as a dress code violation and regarded you as a snitch.

    Serpent,

    So what stopped you wearing your BLM shirt?

    Lowered_lifted,

    Like fuck you very much for implying that I don’t believe black lives matter? When I literally just described the repression of political speech in the workplace I faced?

    Serpent,

    You chose to write it on the internet. I didn’t expect you to get upset at a basic question.

    All I wanted to know was how they stopped you when other people were allowed to wear political clothing. I’m not implying anything.

    Lowered_lifted,

    Idk if you’ve ever worked a shitty oppressive “essential” job during the peak of a pandemic because you couldn’t afford to quit, & the US unemployment system doesn’t pay out if you get fired for a cause dress code violations, so I had to not wear it in order to stay employed. I hope you understand, random who is casting aspersions on me and blaming me for the oppression and double standard and my workplace taking a racist political position, that I just described.

    HawlSera,

    Got to love selective enforcement

    011011,

    Another reason to avoid Whole Foods.

    Ubermeisters,

    Another title gazer thinking authors have his best interest in mind

    randon31415,

    Sadly, if Republicans had their way, wearing masks at all would be a political statement.

    Franzia,

    Another example of a company with street cred giving it up. If employees felt safe wearing BLM masks to work that meana the company’s image as is consistent, even internally.

    And they just threw it away.

    01189998819991197253,
    @01189998819991197253@infosec.pub avatar

    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.

    Lowered_lifted,

    Interesting that pride stuff is considered political because my shitty mega corporate big box employer considered a BLM shirt political but let us wear our pride pins whenever because that was within the dress code

    apotheotic,

    On one hand, I agree with you

    On the other hand, how do we live in such a fucking hellscape that “black lives matter” is a politically charged statement and not an obvious fact. Same for LGBTQIA+ folks deserving equality. (frustration not pointed at you, but at the social climate)

    01189998819991197253,
    @01189998819991197253@infosec.pub avatar

    I agree with you completely. It’s unacceptable.

    dangblingus,

    How dare our employees imply to the general public that we think Black Lives Matter!

    silent_water,

    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”

    01189998819991197253,
    @01189998819991197253@infosec.pub avatar

    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.

    SpaceCowboy,
    @SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca avatar

    Welp, just cancelled Amazon Prime. Never shopped at Whole Foods, so can’t do any more there.

    Kinda the straw that broke the camel’s back for me. Probably should’ve done it a long time ago with all the union busting and general shittiness they are towards employees. But FFS if you’re gonna pay people the bare minimum, treat them like cogs, at least allow them to have something they care about on their person while they’re doing that shitty job.

    Saying that black people are humans and their lives matter as much as any other human should be the least controversial thing ever. But a bunch of racists made it controversial and Amazon is just going along with that.

    pineapplelover,

    Which fucktards decided to downvote this comment?

    enitoni,
    @enitoni@beehaw.org avatar

    Bootlickers (not the good kind)

    ColeSloth,

    A company not wanting it’s employees to wear politicized materials while at work is what makes you mad? I suppose you also want them to be able to wear rebel flag or SS masks? A Trump facemask with MAGA on it? Maybe you just read the title?

    Lowered_lifted,

    It’s not actually a problematic political stance to state that Black Lives Matter, it’s unambiguously good, whereas the other things you mention are hate speech, hope that helps.

    ColeSloth,

    I didn’t say it was good, bad, or neutral. The fact is that it doesn’t matter, because as I’ve already stated, it’s a politicized subject.

    michaelrose,

    Black Lives Matter is a unambiguously good stance.

    The rebel flag signifies support for people who fought a war against their fellows for the right to hold others in chains. SS signifies support for a mass murder’s campaign to subjugate the world and drag the world into darkness. Support for Trump is support for an autocrat who would replace Democracy with a cult of personality.

    The fact that you cannot distinguish these beyond lumping them together as political stances doesn’t speak well for your analytical skills. How about you can support your fellow man but you can’t support evil?

    freeindv,

    There’s nothing good about supporting a terrorist organization

    ColeSloth,

    BLM may be a good thing, but the simple fact is that it has still become politicized and while not displaying BLM causes no customers to get pissy, displaying it does get some customers pissy. Companies aren’t obligated to “rock the boat”.

    michaelrose,

    Maybe we shouldn’t coddle and normalize bigots

    SpaceCowboy,
    @SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca avatar

    No I don’t want them to allow Confederate, Nazi, or Trump symbols. Because those things suck.

    What is it with people that think that we’re supposed to be fair to racist assholes? Learn a little about the paradox of tolerance, ok?

    blackard,

    This is what made you cancel Amazon Prime in 2023? lol

    freeindv,

    Don’t worry, he’s lying

    Rambi,

    That sounds like projection

    freeindv,

    ? Learn what that means before you use it

    Rambi,

    Of course, why would I use a word if I didn’t know the meaning? I said you were projecting because you probably can’t imagine yourself being able to live without Amazon Prime, and you’re projecting that onto them which is my theory for why you think they’re lying. Because otherwise I can’t imagine why you would think someone would lie about something so mundane and trivial.

    freeindv,

    That’s not what projection is

    Rambi,

    Yes it is, is English your second language or something? verywellmind.com/what-is-a-projection-defense-mec…

    Rambi,

    You’re not going to stop responding just because I showed you that you’re wrong, are you? This was quite entertaining.

    bermuda,

    they only responded 3 times

    Rambi,

    Considering each time he’s just reiterating something wrong with 0 reason for it, that’s enough times.

    freeindv,

    I’m not wrong

    Rambi,

    I already linked you an article explaining that definition of projection which originates with Freud. You are wrong and I demonstrated it conclusively.

    freeindv,

    Lol you’re wrong and I demonstrated that conclusively

    SpaceCowboy,
    @SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca avatar

    Yeah I am really lazy about shit like this. But hey better late than never, right?

    grayman,

    It seems to me like WF is trying to avoid a bud light situation. Employees wearing BLM stuff will certainly put off a lot of people in many areas. So it’s about not alienating a big portion of their customers, which would be a significant hit to sales.

    Anyway, I find it odd to some extent that a business was not allowed, possibly, to limit what employees wear, especially if they interact with customers. A key tenant of sales and customer service is to make the person feel respected and to take an interest (fake if nothing else) in the customer.

    stalfoss,

    It’s sad that a significant portion of their customers don’t believe black lives matter and that as usual money is more important than that to corporations

    Pixel,

    No, you are conflating the organization with the phrase. Probably why they picked that name. People oppose the org and their Marxist agenda, not so much (I hope) black people.

    grayman,

    Leader embezzles millions and people are still clamoring to support that garbage organization. They definitely picked a great name to scam people with.

    Chriskmee,

    I can easily see this being a safety issue. You don’t usually want employees wearing stuff that could anger other employees or customers, no matter the reason.

    grayman,

    Or maybe it’s the embezzling and theft of funds by the leader.

    stalfoss,

    Jeff Bezos is embezzling?

    dangblingus,

    Alienating racists isn’t a bad thing.

    cyclohexane,

    I never go to whole foods. I wish I did, just so I can start wearing a BLM mask going there. But don’t wanna give them any of my money for protesting.

    marco,
    @marco@beehaw.org avatar

    You can always just buy the loss leaders - win-win!

    Ibex0,

    I wish people wouldn’t wear political masks at work. It’s your right, sure, but please don’t.

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