Critics are asking Whole Foods Market to change its policy that prohibits workers from wearing Black Lives Matter masks while they are at work, saying there should be “no safe place for racism” in American companies.
More than 40 people protested Sunday outside the chain’s Cambridge location, where seven employees left work on June 25 after being rejected when they showed up to work in BLM masks, the Boston Globe reported.
“There should not be a safe place for racism, and the only way it will happen is if they say it out loud and stop hiding behind neutrality,” protester Jason Slavick told the newspaper.
Slavick, who lives across the street from the store, used to shop there, but now urges others to stop doing business there, as he and other boycott organizers released contact information for the Whole Foods administration. .
One of the employees who was fired, Suverino Frith, 21, accused company officials of being “careful people” who don’t want to take a stand on this.
“They don’t want to alienate anyone,” Frith told the crowd. “They really don’t want to choose a side; they just want to look like they are. It’s just a shame, because we are choosing a side for them. “
Days after the initial workers were turned down, more than 20 Whole Foods employees left the job on June 30 in protest of the company’s policy, WHDH reported.
“I don’t know what it is about Black Lives Matter that threatens store management, but to silence our support for black lives is to silence customers and communities that we hold dear,” employee Savannah Kinzer told the station.
Frith, a two-year-old seasonal Whole Foods employee, said he was surprised when he and his coworkers were told to leave by the masks, adding that managers are free in the policies they apply, he told the Globe.
“With the core values we have at the company that we always talk about, that didn’t seem like the answer,” Frith continued.
Receiving a comment Monday, a Whole Foods spokesperson confirmed that employees are prohibited from wearing clothing with slogans or messages not related to the company to operate a “customer-centric” environment.
“Team members with face masks that do not comply with the dress code are always offered new face masks,” the spokesperson said in a statement to The Post. “Team members cannot work until they comply with the dress code.”
Meanwhile, Starbucks has reversed its policy that prohibits employees from wearing Black Lives Matter masks and clothing for employees to wear after a similar reaction.
Cambridge Councilors Alanna Mallon and Quinton Zondervan, who attended Sunday’s protest, said they hope Whole Foods finally decides to follow in Starbucks’ footsteps.
“This protest should not be necessary for Whole Foods to do the right thing,” Councilman Zondervan told the Globe.
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