BUSINESS NEWS
Amazon’s Whole Foods to cut health benefits for part-time workers
Brett Molina
USA TODAY
Published 12:10 PM EDT Sep 14, 2019
Whole Foods, the grocery chain owned by Amazon, plans to cut health benefits for its part-time workers.
According to Business Insider, the changes take effect Jan. 1 and would affect 2% of Whole Foods’ workforce, or approximately 1,900 employees.
Whole Foods confirmed the change in a statement to USA TODAY.
“In order to better meet the needs of our business and create a more equitable and efficient scheduling model, we are moving to a single-tier part-time structure,” Whole Foods said in its statement.
The company said it is working to help employees find resources for alternative health care options or to explore moving them to full-time positions offering health benefits.
Bye-bye, ‘Whole Paycheck’? Whole Foods Market is cutting prices
In 2017, Amazon closed its acquisition of Whole Foods for $13.7 billion in what was considered a game-changing deal in the grocery business.
Since then, the chain has introduced several price cuts on items in an effort to shed its reputation as being less affordable compared with other grocery retailers.
Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.
