Lifestyle
Philly Whole Foods store becomes first to unionize – a labor expert explains what’s next and how Trump could stall workers’ efforts
Whole Foods workers at the Philadelphia flagship store in the city’s Art Museum area voted to unionize on Jan. 27, 2025. They are the first store in the Amazon-owned grocery chain to do so.
Paul Clark, a professor of labor and employment relations at Penn State University, talked to Kate Kilpatrick, The Conversation U.S. Philadelphia editor, about why this is happening – and why in Philly.
The Whole Foods workers in Philadelphia voted 130-100 in favor of unionizing. What do we know about their grievances?
From what I understand, these workers have felt that compensation, benefits and work conditions were not what they should be. Some are long-standing employees and say they struggle to afford their basic necessities.
Why did the union drive effort succeed now, and in Philly?
In the last five years, there has been a surge in union organizing. There are a number of reasons for this. First is the labor market. Low unemployment emboldens workers to take the risk of organizing a union. If workers feel their employer can’t replace them or that they can easily get a similar job, they are less fearful of angering the employer by trying to organize.
The second reason is that the Biden administration was a labor-friendly administration – perhaps the most in history. The U.S. president appoints a majority of members to the National Labor Relations Board, which interprets and enforces the labor law that governs organizing. Under Biden, the NLRB regularly issued decisions that provided greater protection to workers and held employers accountable when they violated workers’ rights. During Republican administrations, the board’s decisions are generally pro-business and provide less protection to workers. So workers had the wind at their back in that regard.
Also recent polling shows that 70% of Americans approve of unions, compared with less than half of Americans just 15 years ago. The generally favorable view of unions creates a more supportive environment for organizing.
And the last factor is that Generation Z, the youngest group of workers, clearly wants more out of their work and employment than previous generations. So we see a lot of young workers across the country organizing at Starbucks, Trader Joe’s, Apple and now at Whole Foods and other stores.
Why Philadelphia? Philadelphia is a relatively strong union town. The percentage of the workforce that is represented by a union is higher in Philadelphia than in most cities and areas of the country. So when workers express interest in organizing in Philadelphia they get a lot of support. Other unions might turn out members for their rallies, pressure the company to not oppose the organizing drive and offer other aid and assistance.
The starting wage at the Philadelphia Whole Foods store is US$16 an hour. Is that considered low when the city’s minimum wage is just $7.25 an hour?
The minimum wage in Philadelphia is $7.25 because that is the federal minimum wage. States can institute a higher minimum wage if they choose to, but Pennsylvania is one of the few Northeast states that hasn’t adopted a minimum wage higher than the federal minimum. The minimum wages in New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts, for example, are $15 or above.
But the minimum wage in Pennsylvania is almost irrelevant because of today’s labor market. Unemployment is low, and many employers have to offer significantly more than the minimum wage to get workers.
And the minimum wage is supposed to be a starting wage for workers with little experience or seniority. What workers want is a living wage. According to the MIT Living Wage Calculator, a single person in Philadelphia needs to earn around $24 per hour to cover the basic costs of living. And Whole Foods is a profitable business. It’s part of Amazon, one of the most profitable, largest companies in the world. I think workers at these companies believe that they play an important role in generating those profits because of the work they do. And they think they should get a fair share of those profits.
How might the Whole Foods workers expect the company to fight back?
When employees win an organizing election as the Whole Food workers have, they have won a battle but not the war. The purpose of forming a union is to improve wages and benefits and working conditions, and you do that by negotiating a contract with the company. That is the next step in the process. But the law only requires employers to bargain with employees – to meet at reasonable times and exchange proposals. It doesn’t compel them to agree to anything.
The typical strategy of companies that aggressively oppose their workers having a union is to drag their feet in bargaining and not sign a contract. That is technically illegal, but labor law in the U.S. is relatively weak, and with good legal advice you can drag out bargaining for a very long time.
We’ve seen this with the Starbucks campaign. The first Starbucks store unionized in 2021. Over 540 stores have organized since then. And Starbucks workers at those stores still do not have a contract.
Could the new Trump administration have any impact on how this plays out in Philly?
The fact that the Trump administration has taken over gives companies more confidence that the standard delay strategy will work.
On Jan. 28, 2025, President Donald Trump fired Jennifer Abruzzo, the general counsel of the NLRB. The general counsel is the official at the board who basically enforces the National Labor Relations Act. Abruzzo was very aggressive in holding employers accountable if they violated the act and in protecting the rights of workers who tried to organize.
Trump’s approach to labor law in his first four years in office was at the other extreme. He appointed as general counsel Peter Robb, who was seen as far less aggressive in protecting workers’ rights and his interpretations of the law were much more pro-business.
Under the Biden administration, if a company was coming to the bargaining table month after month and not agreeing to anything, the NLRB would eventually step in and cite the employer for not bargaining in good faith. The NLRB could find the employer guilty of unfair labor practices and genuinely put pressure on it to bargain a contract.
Based on the board’s actions during the first Trump administration, the board in the next few years will be more likely to allow companies to delay and delay in reaching a contract.
What leverage do the Whole Foods employees have?
They can go on strike. But Amazon has the resources to put up with a strike at one Whole Foods store forever.
Other Whole Foods stores may be considering union drives. The more stores that organize, the more momentum the Philadelphia store will have. But for now, these workers in Philly are going to have their work cut out for them.
That said, they won’t be alone. The Whole Foods workers organized with the UFCW Local 1776, which is basically a statewide union that’s been around for decades. It has a lot of resources and experienced and knowledgeable leaders, plus the resources of the national UFCW. So it’s going to lean into this fight, and these workers will also have a lot of support from the rest of the labor community in Philadelphia.
Earlier this month, three Congressional representatives from Pennsylvania wrote a letter to Jason Buechel, the Whole Foods CEO, and to Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder, that expressed their concerns about efforts to suppress the union drive. Is that support typical?
It’s not unusual. But there is no legal basis for elected officials to intervene in a labor-management dispute. I’d put that under the heading of community support.
You have a lot of progressive elected officials in Philadelphia who are supportive of unions, and that’s true in Pennsylvania right up to the governor.
Paul F. Clark, Professor of Labor and Employment Relations, Penn State
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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love and romance
Skip the Reservation: Kroger’s Surf-and-Turf Deals Make Valentine’s Day Easy (and Affordable)
Valentine’s Day doesn’t have to mean fighting for a last-minute reservation, overpaying for a fixed menu, or rushing through dinner because your table is booked for the next couple. Kroger is leaning into a simpler (and honestly more romantic) idea for 2026: bring date night home with a restaurant-style surf and turf dinner—plus flowers, dessert, and weekly deals that keep the whole plan budget-friendly.
Kroger shares expert meat and seafood tips, special offers for date night at home
In a new announcement released Feb. 10, The Kroger Co. says it’s making it easy for couples to pull off an impressive meal at home with premium meat and seafood options, expert counter tips, and limited-time savings starting Feb. 11.
A steakhouse-style dinner—without the steakhouse price tag
Kroger’s pitch is straightforward: quality ingredients are the foundation of a great meal, and shoppers can get “night out” vibes from the meat and seafood counter without the hassle.
“Quality ingredients are the foundation of any romantic dinner and Kroger consistently delivers on quality and affordability,” said Carlo Baldan, Group Vice President of Fresh Merchandising at Kroger.
To help home chefs level up, Kroger’s culinary experts shared practical tips for building a surf-and-turf plate that looks (and tastes) like it came from a restaurant.
Kroger’s surf-and-turf tips: what to buy and how to nail it
1) Choosing the right steak
If you’re shopping the meat case and want a tender, flavorful steak, Kroger recommends looking for marbling—those thin white flecks throughout the cut. More marbling typically means more flavor and tenderness.
For surf and turf, Kroger points to classic picks:
- Ribeye
- New York strip
- Filet mignon
- Sirloin
For seasoning, Kroger suggests Private Selection® Cracked Peppercorn seasoning (a blend designed to hit that steakhouse-style balance of salt, garlic, and pepper). One pro move: salt your steak 30–60 minutes before cooking to help deepen the seasoning and improve the crust.
2) Lobster tails and crab legs: what to look for
Seafood can feel intimidating, but Kroger’s guidance keeps it simple:
- For lobster tails, look for solidly frozen tails with no heavy ice crystals.
- Aim for a 4–6 oz. tail, which tends to cook more evenly and stay tender.
- For crab legs, look for intact shells and minimal ice buildup.
3) Sides and finishing touches that make it feel “special”
Surf and turf doesn’t need complicated sides—just the right supporting cast:
- Roasted asparagus or broccolini
- Garlic mashed potatoes
- A salad with citrus vinaigrette
To finish like a steakhouse, Kroger recommends a quick garlic-herb butter baste after cooking your steak. For seafood, keep it clean and classic: melted butter, fresh lemon, and a light sprinkle of salt and parsley.
Don’t sleep on the in-store experts
If you’re not sure what to buy (or how much), Kroger is also encouraging customers to use the best resource in the building: the butchers behind the meat and seafood counters. They can help with portion sizes, selecting cuts, and picking the right seafood for a special occasion.
For more ideas, Kroger says shoppers can visit its blog for surf-and-turf recipes and inspiration.
Flowers delivered on-demand (and a deal to go with it)
Dinner is only part of the Valentine’s Day equation. Kroger—America’s largest florist—also highlights on-demand floral delivery from more than 1,700 locations nationwide through DoorDash and Uber Eats.
Orders are prepared and packed by in-store floral associates, then delivered by couriers straight to the recipient’s door. Kroger is also promoting a limited-time offer: $25 off $75 on the Bloom Haus storefront on DoorDash and Uber Eats through Feb. 14.
Dessert is handled, too
To round out the night, Kroger is pointing shoppers to its bakery for Valentine’s-ready sweets, including:
- Chocolate dipped strawberries
- Cakes
- New cupcake bouquets
Valentine’s week deals to watch (starting Feb. 11)
Kroger’s announcement includes a lineup of weekly promotions and digital deals designed to make the surf-and-turf plan (and the rest of the week’s grocery run) more affordable. Highlights include:
- Boneless strip steak: $9.99 per pound
- Wild caught lobster tails: 2 for $10
- Wild caught snow crab clusters: as low as $9.99 per pound with a digital or in-store accessible coupon
- Kroger Russet Potatoes: $1.99 for five pounds
- 20% off any six bottles of wine
Plus, additional weekly staples and BOGOs, including blueberries, apples, cereals, cheese, yogurt, cage-free eggs, and ground chuck.
Prices are valid beginning Feb. 11, and prices/products may vary by geography.
The takeaway
Kroger’s Valentine’s Day message is clear: skip the reservation, keep the romance, and build a date-night meal around premium meat and seafood—without turning it into an all-day project. Add flowers delivered on-demand, a bakery dessert, and a few well-timed weekly deals, and you’ve got a full Valentine’s plan that feels elevated but still practical.
At our core, we at STM Daily News, strive to keep you informed and inspired with the freshest content on all things food and beverage. From mouthwatering recipes to intriguing articles, we’re here to satisfy your appetite for culinary knowledge.
Visit our Food & Drink section to get the latest on Foodie News and recipes, offering a delightful blend of culinary inspiration and gastronomic trends to elevate your dining experience. https://stmdailynews.com/food-and-drink/
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Travel
Curating a Memorable Vacation: Ways to Invest in the Experience of Family Travel
For many Americans, their most treasured family memories took place on a vacation or trip rather than at home. With Alaska on the travel bucket list of more than two-thirds of Americans, it’s a destination that is influencing experience-focused family adventures.
(Family Features) Travel has a way of slowing time down, creating memories for loved ones that last long after suitcases are unpacked and regular routines return. For many Americans, their most treasured family memories took place on a vacation or trip rather than at home.
In fact, nearly 67% said they value a core memory more than a physical souvenir after a vacation, according to a survey commissioned by Holland America Line, a cruise line that has been exploring Alaska for nearly 80 years. What’s more, almost 86% of survey respondents said they have looked at photos or videos from a past trip to lift their mood, and more than 90% said positive travel memories can improve their mood during difficult times.
With Alaska on the travel bucket list of more than two-thirds of Americans, it’s a destination that is influencing experience-focused family adventures.
Explore Curiosities
Travel is about more than seeing new places. For many Americans, it’s also a time to learn, explore new interests and slow down. Booking a cruise can encourage those behaviors.
According to the survey, 61% of Americans are more likely to try new foods while traveling on a cruise, and nearly half (48%) said they’ve discovered a new interest or hobby during their cruise, including wildlife, food, history or culture. For example, cruise guests may be able to try local specialties, like fresh Alaskan seafood, reindeer sausage, birch syrup and Alaskan berries, while on board.
Unstructured time is part of the appeal of cruises, with 28% of respondents sharing they read more during their trips.
Focus on Nature
Nature-focused destinations stand out because they offer experiences that feel rare and immersive, especially in places where wildlife and landscapes are central to the journey. More than 4 in 10 survey respondents said seeing wildlife in nature would be the most memorable family vacation experience, compared with about 12% who said meeting a character at a theme park would stand out most.
Whether spotting whales, watching glaciers calve or seeing the Northern Lights stretch across the Alaskan sky, the landscape being part of the experience helps define the journey. To help guests witness the majestic animals found in Alaska, including whales, eagles, bears, moose, otters, seals, sea lions and more, Holland America Line carries a wildlife expert on board. Plus, a wildlife spotting guide points out native animals found along the cruise route and a map with the best places to see each species is included.
“Guests tell us time and again how profoundly nature shapes the memories they carry home,” said Robert Morgenstern, senior vice president of Alaska Operations at Holland America Line. “Wildlife sightings, time outdoors and shared moments linger long after the cruise ends, especially for families exploring Alaska together.”
Reimagine Family Time
For families, travel often creates time for bonding that daily routines simply don’t allow. More than half of the survey respondents said their best family memories occurred while traveling together, and more than 4 out of 5 (82%) said some of their strongest family bonding moments happened during a vacation or family trip.
In addition to shared memories, more than 91% said travel had a positive impact on their mental and emotional well-being.
As travelers look for relief from routine and overstimulation, finding experiences rooted in nature, exploration and shared moments can help create lasting memories and emotional connection.
To learn more about Alaska travel and book your next family adventure, visit hollandamerica.com.
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Julian Givi, West Virginia University; Colleen P. Kirk, New York Institute of Technology, and Danielle Hass, West Virginia University
Whether it’s Valentine’s Day notes or emails to loved ones, using AI to write leaves people feeling crummy about themselves
As Valentine’s Day approaches, finding the perfect words to express your feelings for that special someone can seem like a daunting task – so much so that you may feel tempted to ask ChatGPT for an assist.
After all, within seconds it can dash off a well-written, romantic message. Even a short, personalized limerick or poem is no sweat.
But before you copy and paste that AI-generated love note, you might want to consider how it could make you feel about yourself.
We research the intersection of consumer behavior and technology, and we’ve been studying how people feel after using generative AI to write heartfelt messages. It turns out that there’s a psychological cost to using the technology as your personal ghostwriter.
The rise of the AI ghostwriter
Generative AI has transformed how many people communicate. From drafting work emails to composing social media posts, these tools have become everyday writing assistants. So it’s no wonder some people are turning to them for more personal matters, too.
Wedding vows, birthday wishes, thank you notes and even Valentine’s Day messages are increasingly being outsourced to algorithms.
The technology is certainly capable. Chatbots can craft emotionally resonant responses that sound genuinely heartfelt.
But there’s a catch: When you present these words as your own, something doesn’t sit right.
When convenience breeds guilt
We conducted five experiments with hundreds of participants, asking them to imagine using generative AI to write various emotional messages to loved ones. Across every scenario we tested – from appreciation emails to birthday cards to love letters – we found the same pattern: People felt guilty when they used generative AI to write these messages compared to when they wrote the messages themselves.
When you copy an AI-generated message and sign your name to it, you’re essentially taking credit for words you didn’t write.
This creates what we call a “source-credit discrepancy,” which is a gap between who actually created the message and who appears to have created it. You can see these discrepancies in other contexts, whether it’s celebrity social media posts written by public relations teams or political speeches composed by professional speechwriters.
When you use AI, even though you might tell yourself you’re just being efficient, you can probably recognize, deep down, that you’re misleading the recipient about the personal effort and thought that went into the message.
The transparency test
To better understand this guilt, we compared AI-generated messages to other scenarios. When people bought greeting cards with preprinted messages, they felt no guilt at all. This is because greeting cards are transparently not written by you. Greeting cards carry no deception: Everyone understands you selected the card and that you didn’t write it yourself.
We also tested another scenario: having a friend secretly write the message for you. This produced just as much guilt as using generative AI. Whether the ghostwriter is human or an artificial intelligence tool doesn’t matter. What matters most is the dishonesty.
There were some boundaries, however. We found that guilt decreased when messages were never delivered and when recipients were mere acquaintances rather than close friends.
These findings confirm that the guilt stems from violating expectations of honesty in relationships where emotional authenticity matters most.
Somewhat relatedly, research has found that people react more negatively when they learn a company used AI instead of a human to write a message to them.
But the backlash was strongest when audiences expected personal effort – a boss expressing sympathy after a tragedy, or a note sent to all staff members celebrating a colleague’s recovery from a health scare. It was far weaker for purely factual or instructional notes, such as announcing routine personnel changes or providing basic business updates.
What this means for your Valentine’s Day
So, what should you do about that looming Valentine’s Day message? Our research suggests that the human hand behind a meaningful message can help both the writer and the recipient feel better.
This doesn’t mean you can’t use generative AI as a brainstorming partner rather than a ghostwriter. Let it help you overcome writer’s block or suggest ideas, but make the final message truly yours. Edit, personalize and add details that only you would know. The key is co-creation, not complete delegation.
Generative AI is a powerful tool, but it’s also created a raft of ethical dilemmas, whether it’s in the classroom or in romantic relationships. As these technologies become more integrated into everyday life, people will need to decide where to draw the line between helpful assistance and emotional outsourcing.
This Valentine’s Day, your heart and your conscience might thank you for keeping your message genuinely your own.
Julian Givi, Assistant Professor of Marketing, West Virginia University; Colleen P. Kirk, Assistant Professor of Marketing, New York Institute of Technology, and Danielle Hass, Ph.D. Candidate in Marketing, West Virginia University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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