Teamsters Call on Whole Foods, UNFI to Support Health Reform

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS57140+12-Sep-2009+PRN20090912

Sat Sep 12, 2009 12:30pm EDT

OAKLAND, Calif., Sept. 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today the Teamsters
protested at the "Entrepreneur's Open Forum" at the Numi Tea Garden to
highlight Whole Food's hypocrisy of claiming to support sustainable policies
while its CEO lobbies against real health reform for its workers and
customers. Executives from Whole Foods and its leading supplier United Natural
Foods, Inc. (Nasdaq: UNFI) led discussions on "strategies for healthy business
growth."

The Whole Foods CEO, in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, attacked President
Obama's efforts to reform America's ailing health care system. Whole Foods
believes that Americans have no right to health care and that health care
should be an individual responsibility. That's easy for its CEO, who can
afford expensive private health insurance, to say.

The Teamsters believe it is shameful for Whole Foods to seek to shift the
health care burden even further onto individuals and to call for less
government help in solving America's health care crisis.

"Whole Foods' CEO is talking out of both sides of his mouth when it comes to
enacting real change in health reform," said Teamsters General President James
P. Hoffa. "We can't allow corporate agendas to stop us from making health care
affordable for everyone."

The Teamsters call upon Whole Foods, and its principal supplier UNFI, to
promote a sustainable organic food supply chain and sustainable jobs, and
support our President's efforts for a sustainable health care system for
America.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters was founded in 1903 and represents
1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto
Rico.

[onehandle]

1. Another week goes by that I did not shop at Whole Foods.

Picked up some Jasmine Rice elsewhere yesterday instead of the 365 Brand I usually get.

Bigger bag, cheaper price.