Whole Foods workers in Philadelphia voted to join a union in 2025. They just cleared their latest hurdle.
The union has been caught in a procedural standstill for months.
Philadelphia Whole Foods workers cleared a major hurdle in their unionizing efforts this week, paving the way to negotiating their first union contract.
Workers at the 2101 Pennsylvania Ave. store voted last year to join UFCW local 1776, becoming the first group within the Amazon-owned Whole Foods chain to unionize. But they have been caught in a procedural standstill for months.
Whole Foods challenged the union election, citing multiple objections, including allegations that the union promised employees would get a raise if they voted for a union.
A few months after the election, a regional director at the National Labor Relations Board dismissed Whole Food’s challenge — but the company pushed back, asking for a review by the national board. That brought the case to a standstill because the NLRB was without a quorum after President Donald Trump fired a board member.
The board has since gained two new members, including one with ties to the Philadelphia area, Scott A. Mayer, a Villanova University graduate who has worked for locally headquartered concessions company Aramark and area law firms.
This month, the board stood by the regional director’s conclusion upholding the union election, saying Whole Foods’ latest challenge “raises no substantial issues warranting review.”
Wendell Young IV, president of UFCW local 1776, said Tuesday that the union had been expecting this outcome.
The NLRB decision “completely vindicates the union and these workers, and there’s no reason at this point Whole Foods/Amazon shouldn’t sit down and begin bargaining right away, although I suspect they won’t,” Young said.
A Whole Foods Market spokesperson said in an emailed statement that the company strongly disagrees with the board’s decision.
During a hearing on the issue last year, the spokesperson said, Whole Foods argued that “restrictions on free speech and the union’s illegal conduct interfered with our team members’ right to a fair vote at our Philly Center City Store.”
