What Exactly Do The Unions Want?

What started out as groups of liberal bloggers being upset with Whole Foods CEO John Mackey for criticizing Obama’s approach to healthcare reform (while offering his own ideas) has turned into a full scale boycott led by various labor unions. There have even been calls to oust Mackey as CEO.

That list of boycott supporters includes the Service Employees International Union who has taken the lead as the most vocal supporter of healthcare reform. They have been equally vocal in denouncing those who oppose the proposed legislation.

The next union involved is the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. I wonder why the UFCW would be involved in a protest against a grocery store. The UFCW, of course, would love nothing more than to organize Whole Foods- something they have been unable to do.

The reason they have not been able to is because they have nothing to offer that the workers do not currently receive. Look at what Mackey wrote about the healthcare plan they currently provide at Whole Foods:

Whole Foods Market pays 100% of the premiums for all our team members who work 30 hours or more per week (about 89% of all team members) for our high-deductible health-insurance plan. We also provide up to $1,800 per year in additional health-care dollars through deposits into employees' Personal Wellness Accounts to spend as they choose on their own health and wellness.

Money not spent in one year rolls over to the next and grows over time. Our team members therefore spend their own health-care dollars until the annual deductible is covered (about $2,500) and the insurance plan kicks in. This creates incentives to spend the first $2,500 more carefully. Our plan's costs are much lower than typical health insurance, while providing a very high degree of worker satisfaction.

Is the UFCW going to say they will get the company to pay more than 100% of the premiums? I don’t think that is possible.

The unions know they can’t win with what they try to offer. They are simply trying to mount a public relations campaign against the grocer in hopes that will open doors for them in the future. They have done it before, they are doing it now, they will do it again.