Whole Foods CEO Profile Reveals Disturbing Views on Unions, Climate

The New Yorker has an in-depth look at Whole Foods CEO John Mackey and his, er, wackiness. There's some choice stuff in there: did you know Mackey has compared unions to having a veneral disease? Yup, it's true. We can't include the quote here, since this is a family blog, but if you check out the article you'll find it there.

Another bit of information about Mackey: he's one of those climate change deniers. Which kind of makes you wonder about how environmentally conscious he really cares about being:

as he put it, “no scientific consensus exists” regarding the causes of climate change; he added, with a candor you could call bold or reckless, that it would be a pity to allow “hysteria about global warming” to cause us “to raise taxes and increase regulation, and in turn lower our standard of living and lead to an increase in poverty.” One would imagine that, on this score, many of his customers, to say nothing of most climate scientists, might disagree. He also said, “Historically, prosperity tends to correlate to warmer temperatures.”

Mackey also suggests that his company is not special or separate; that it's essentially similar to Kroger and Safeway. And as far as quality, that may be true. UFCW members know that Safeway's or Kroger's workers are every bit as dedicated as those at Whole Foods. But there's one big difference for workers: most Safeway and Kroger workers have a union, and Whole Foods workers? Well, they don't, thanks to Mackey's anti-union stance.