Whole Foods Case Study

1284 Words6 Pages

In September 2015, Whole Foods Market announced that they will stop selling goat cheese and tilapia that has been produced using prison labourers by April, 2016. Currently they are selling goods that have been produced by Haystack Mountain Goat Dairy and Quixotic Farming, who are partnered up with Colorado Correctional Industries (CCI) to employ inmates to milk the goats and tend to the fish. CCI is a division of the state’s Department of Corrections which provides inmate labor for agricultural, manufacturing and more. (Aubrey, 2015) Whole Foods reasoning behind this decision was, “We felt that supporting supplier partners who found a way to be part of paid, rehabilitative work being done by inmates would help people get back on their feet”. …show more content…

The purpose of the CCI is to provide inmates with employment and training so that they have a bigger possibility of finding a job in the future, like a rehabilitation program. According to their reports, dated on Jan 15, 1600 inmates have voluntarily been employed earning around 60 cents an hour up to $4 a day. (Rosen, 2014) After a demonstration in Houston Texas, by End Mass Incarceration Houston (EMIH), Whole Foods is under fire for employing inmates through their prison work programs. They are under the impression that Whole Foods is taking advantage of the prisoners and profiting from their low wages. The head of EMIH spoke saying these big corporations do not care about rehab, or reducing the number of prisoners, they are exploiting these workers and their end goal is to simply get the cheapest labourer so that they can make the biggest profit. …show more content…

CCI wants to increase the size of their business as much as possible, to increase their own revenues and also increase the amounts of inmates they are employing. They are important to Whole Foods because they are the ones that are providing all the labour and organizing everything. This organization could change their rules and only allow the government to hire employees rather than private corporations, meaning that Whole Foods will not be able to increase their profits. CCI has power and legitimacy, showing that they are a dominant stakeholder in this case. Since it’s inception, CCI has helped reduce 20% of repeat offenders compared to the general population. (Choi,