PHILADELPHIA When Leeya Girmay transitioned from a full-time to a part-time bakery employee at Whole Foods in November, she gave up health-care eligibility. The inconsistent shifts of a full-time schedule had been wearing her out.

“I was always working different days and different times,” said Girmay, 25. “It was really hard to do anything outside of work or to get proper rest … I couldn’t take it anymore after a while.”

After about a year at Whole Foods, she said, she’s open to other opportunities. But she can stay on her father’s health-care plan for only one more year.

Girmay and her colleagues may soon have more say in their work conditions and wages.

Workers at the Whole Foods in Philadelphia's Spring Garden neighborhood have voted to unionize, becoming the first store in the company to do so. The roughly 300 workers will join United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Local 1776.

The vote result still awaits certification from the National Labor Relations Board, which typically takes a few weeks, said Wendell Young, president of UFCW Local 1776. The union is also weighing whether to bring certain unfair labor practice charges against Whole Foods to the NLRB, which itself is undergoing a leadership change under President Donald Trump. A spokesperson for Whole Foods says the company complied with the law throughout the union organizing process.

As they took the first steps to unionize late last year, Whole Foods employees expressed frustration with their working conditions, health-care benefits and wages, noting some can’t afford to shop in the store where they work. Of the eligible workers who voted, 130 were for unionizing and 100 against.

“This victory is not just ours; it belongs to every worker who believes in the power of standing together for fair wages, better benefits, and a safer, more supportive workplace,” said produce department employee Ed Dupree, 33.

The Whole Foods workers join a wave of organizing efforts by pockets of workers at large retail companies, including Whole Foods parent company Amazon, where distribution-center workers have called for better working conditions, and some have initiated unionizing campaigns in recent years.

A spokesperson for Whole Foods said in a statement that the company “is proud to offer competitive compensation, great benefits, and career advancement opportunities to all team members. We are disappointed by the outcome of this election, but we are committed to maintaining a positive working environment in our Philly Center City store.”

Full-time, health-care eligible positions at Whole Foods require working at least 30 hours a week, a spokesperson said, also noting the company’s 20% in-store discount for employees among other employee benefits.

Khy Adams, 32, who has been an employee at the store for six months and works in the prepared foods department, said winning the vote seemed surreal, but more work lies ahead.

While voting to form a union is a definitive step, it does not in itself change working conditions. The process of bargaining a first contract takes over a year on average and depends on how negotiations between the union and employer take shape.

“This is going to be the longest uphill battle of our lives,” Adams said. “We are going to be exhausted, but this is not just for us. This is for the people who come behind us, and this is for the people who have been here who don’t have a voice and don’t feel like they have a sense of advocacy for themselves.”

Other Whole Foods workers around the country have been watching the organizing in Philadelphia with interest, Young said. “Now workers know there’s a path.”

Allegations against Whole Foods

A few days before the union vote, local U.S. Reps. Brendan Boyle, Mary Gay Scanlon and Dwight Evans, all Democrats, signed a letter to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Whole Foods CEO Jason Buechel, urging them to hold a union election “without interference.”

The letter describes that “reports have emerged of employees having been subject to various forms of obstruction by Whole Foods Market management as they exercise their legal right to attempt to unionize.”

According to Young, since the company has known of the workers’ organizing efforts, they have fired several managers and brought in more than 100 workers to the Pennsylvania Avenue location, which the company says are from other stores. Young said UFCW thinks some of them “are actually union busters.”

The newly added employees have been hosting discussions with workers about why a union isn’t needed, Young said. Although this is legal, Young noted, “they’re only presenting one side.”

The union filed a charge with the NLRB this month, alleging that a worker was fired in retaliation for union-related activities. The company’s disciplinary process typically calls for workers getting four strikes before they are asked to leave, Young said, but this process wasn’t followed in this case. The union also alleged that Whole Foods said it would leave the Center City store out of planned wage increases because of the ongoing union activity, Young said.

The company denies retaliating against the worker, a spokesperson said, also noting that legally, the company was not allowed to increase wages during a union election and that the adjustment would take place when it is legal to do so.

The union is continuing to investigate more than two dozen other worker complaints, Young said, and evaluating whether to take them to the NLRB. That board’s makeup is likely to change in the few years ahead, as Trump makes appointments.

On Tuesday, the board’s top attorney, Jennifer Abruzzo, was removed from her position, multiple media outlets have reported. The NLRB had prosecuted complaints against Amazon under her leadership.

“We’re going to lead with the things we can prove and sustain with the board, especially (a) Trump board,” Young said.

He noted how the president and Elon Musk, a close adviser, have previously talked about firing workers who wanted to unionize and criticized the NLRB and Department of Labor.

“This (could) be real challenging for workers everywhere for at least the next four years,” said Young.

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