Posted on 08/26/2009 5:22:29 PM PDT by lqcincinnatus
CtW Investment Group Calls on Whole Foods Board to Remove Chair and CEO John Mackey FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, August 25, 2009
CONTACT: Per Olstad, (202) 721-6027
The CtW Investment Group called on the Whole Foods Market (NYSE:WFMI) board to remove CEO John Mackey as Chairman and to begin the process of naming a new CEO in a letter to Whole Foods’ lead independent director, Dr. John Elstrott, yesterday afternoon. Citing the risk to Whole Foods’ brand reputation caused by Mr. Mackey’s editorial opposing President Obama’s proposed healthcare reform, CtW urged the board to take immediate action to prevent continued damage in the face of a quickly-growing boycott by Whole Foods’ progressive customer base.
“Mr. Mackey attempted to capitalize on the brand reputation of Whole Foods to champion his personal political views, but has instead deeply offended a key segment of Whole Foods consumer base,” said CtW Investment Group Executive Director Bill Patterson. “This is not the first time Mr. Mackey’s unsanctioned communications have damaged Whole Foods’ image with consumers and investors. At a time when shareholders are looking for Whole Foods’ management to focus on improving operations in an uncertain economy, we can not afford the risk to our Company’s brand reputation caused by Mr. Mackey’s indiscretion. He has become a liability and the board should begin the process of identifying a suitable replacement.”
For comment, please contact Per Olstad at (202) 721-6027. For more information regarding the CtW Investment Group please go to www.ctwinvestmentgroup.com. The text of CtW’s letter follows:
“I can’t help wondering how “socialized medicine” helps these unions. Wouldn’t the union members be worse off, compared to their current situation?”
Members might be worse off. But many, if not most union pensions funds are on the brink of insolvency and likely to not be able to meet the demands of the coming wave of “boomer” retirement. Many of the pension agreements have a clause that alleviates their healthcare obligations if a public option is available.
"..Founded in February 2006, the CtW Investment Group works with pension funds sponsored by unions affiliated with Change to Win, a federation of unions representing nearly 6 million members, to enhance long-term shareholder returns through active ownership. Members of CtW affiliates participate in Taft-Hartley plans with an estimated $217 billion in assets.
The long-term health of these pension plans, and the retirement security of the workers and families who rely upon them, are threatened by conflicts of interest on Wall Street and in the boardroom, a corporate backlash that seeks to weaken the accountability of executives to shareholders, and outright corporate fraud.
The CtW Investment Group responds to these challenges by organizing workers' capital into an effective voice for corporate accountability and retirement security..."
This is organized Union Thuggery masquerading as grass roots activism. It is another sham PR group organization.
I joined the FB group supporting this CEO. Thanks!
Disagreeing with the president can ruin the company’s reputation??
Oh, I forgot. The “disagree-ers” are automatically racists.
Good one!
Some FReepers are going to stop going to WF and others are going to start or go more. I don’t know what to do!
Maybe I’ll go on a hunger strike. Maybe 3 days like the Indian airline people. Or maybe until obie One drops “his” health care bill. Now there’s a serious threat.
Hitler and Mussolini had such allies who tought that those who opposed their programs were too political. They woke up too late.
I have someone who shops at Whole Foods & wants to protest this action. Would the above be the phone # to call or is it the # of the site that posted this information?
She said that if they actually go through with this - she is no longer going to shop there!!
Believe me, I'm not asking you to explain the union mindset. It just seems to me that they're shooting themselves, and the rest of us, in our collective foot.
“But don’t the younger members understand that they’ll end up on the public option, with less benes and more cost in the form of taxes?”
The problem is the disconnect between the union members and the union leadership. It’s not unlike the disconnect between congress and their constituents who are demanding to not pass this plan. Many of the union rank and file oppose this, but the leadership tells them its “for their own good.”
In reality, it’s likely that it will be passed to allow the unions to avoid scrutiny of the malfeasance surrounding their deplorable handling of pension funds. I believe this is why Pelosi et al blew a gasket when the possibility of omitting the “public option” was floated. No Public Option - no Union Pension Rescue.
Of course, if this fails, they’ll find some other way to “bail out” the pension - but it will “look bad”.
I read on a few blogs today that there is $10 billion tucked into HR3200 for a gap in union insurance/reinsurance.
Yet they will continue to massively support Chris Dodd and Barney Frank (amongst others) who both benefitted from sweetheart deals and actively resisted controls that might have mitigated the mortgage mess back in 2004-6! Unions have a place, I'm just trying to figure out where!
“However I may be over that way sometime in the next month and I think I will do so.”
Cool...then be sure to note the distance to home in your letter.
Here’s a link to a good story re this:
http://247wallst.com/2009/08/25/brand-image-did-mackey-really-hurt-whole-foods-wfmi/
“I don’t know what to do!”
LOL..me either. Everything is upside down. Pretty soon it will be conservatives shopping at organic food stores and living in ‘communes’. We won’t be able to trust the ‘nationalized’ food sources(ie sterilization in the food or drinking water per orders from the commie czars) and we will have to establish capitalist communes in order to be free from tyranny.
Where is John Galt?
We know ‘who’ he is now...we just can’t find ‘him’!!
On another note...we conservatives are still all pretty much ‘together’...meanwhile the commie left is beginning to eat their own.
Pass the popcorn....
Their cookies all taste like straw...keep that in mind while making your decision.;)
Whole Foods Market was founded in Austin, Texas, when four local businesspeople decided the natural foods industry was ready for a supermarket format. Our founders were John Mackey and Renee Lawson Hardy, owners of Safer Way Natural Foods, and Craig Weller and Mark Skiles, owners of Clarksville Natural Grocery. The original Whole Foods Market opened in 1980 with a staff of only 19 people. It was an immediate success. At the time, there were less than half a dozen natural food supermarkets in the United States. We have grown by leaps and bounds since our first store opened.
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