Pablo Martinez newmexicolulac@yahoo.

com Guidelines for language

Paul "Pablo" A. Martinez Immediate Past NM LULAC State Director (2006-2010) Consejero Suplente CCIME 2009-2011 (Sur de NM) P.O. Box 1324 Las Cruces, NM 88004 (575) 527-2460

----- Forwarded Message ----From: Ralph Arellanes <ralphnmlulac@gmail.com> To: Kate Lowery (CE CEN) <Kate.Lowery@wholefoods.com>; "ralph arellanes, NM State Dir" <ralphnmlulac@comcast.net> Sent: Thursday, June 13, 2013 9:09 AM Subject: Re: Guidelines for language

Hi Ms. Lowery, I was out of town for personal matters and I just returned. We are currently reviewing your revised policy. It is quite clear that your original policy was an "English Only" policy. It left tremendous room for a lot of discriminatory and abusive practices by co-workers and managers. It has been our experience that whenever a company has these kind of policies in place, it usually leads to discriminatory practices from the top down. Many of our membership from across the State of New Mexico and across the country are outraged by this policy and the actions that have been taken. We have received literally hundreds of calls and messages from across the spectrum of our state and country from organizatons, businesses and individuals who have demanded that we start a national boycott of Whole Foods Market immediately. Many in our community are outraged by this assault and attack on our culture and language that many feel these rights to our language and cultural values were fought for and won on the thousands of battlefields across the world, the courts and the legislative bodies across our country. As you are probably aware, LULAC is our nation's oldest, largest and most respected Latino civil rights and advocacy organization in the nation. Therefore, we would like to schedule a meeting with you and your Whole Foods managers to discuss a number of items. The areas we would like to discuss are: 1. What is the demographic make up and the representation of Hispanics and other minorities in your corporate structure here in Albuquerque, throughout New Mexico and across the country?

2. What is the demographic make up of the Whole Foods management team in New Mexico and nationally? 3. What kind of training, development and upward mobility programs do you have for Hispanics/minority employees to move up the corporate ladder? 4. Have other Hispanic/minority employees ever been reprimanded, fired or suspended for speaking Spanish or another language? Many of us will be in attendance of our National convention in Las Vegas, Nevada next week. We look forward to your call and the prospect of a productive meeting following our national convention. Thank you for your time and cooperation Ms. Lowery. We look forward to working with you and the management team of Whole Foods in order to address these serious concerns of our community. Sincerely, Ralph Arellanes New Mexico LULAC State Director National LULAC Board Member Chairman, Hispano Roundtable of New Mexico On Mon, Jun 10, 2013 at 10:36 AM, Kate Lowery (CE CEN) <Kate.Lowery@wholefoods.com> wrote:
Hello again Mr. Arrellanes, Here are the guidelines againthey are more concise than the version I sent to you on Friday. I also sent you the older Rocky Mountain regional guidelines on Friday. This version below will be applicable for all of our 12 operating regions. Thoughts or feedback? 512-657-0925

Understanding Each Other Whole Foods Market has locations in metropolitan areas with diverse populations, which is proudly reflected in our stores by our customers and our Team Members. We celebrate that diversity and the many cultures and languages it brings to the Whole Foods Market environment. Speaking a variety of different languages at our stores and facilities can sometimes present challenges, especially when it comes to clear communications about safety and quality control, and also ensuring positive interactions among our customers and Team Members. We are committed to making sure that our food is prepared according to the proper recipes, that our Team Members thoroughly understand and follow safety practices, and that we are courteous, respectful and inclusive among our customer and Team Member base, regardless of the languages spoken. The following in-store guidelines will ensure we make good on this commitment:

 If you speak English and you need to communicate with an English-speaking customer, please speak with them in English, unless requested otherwise by the customer. While speaking with customers or co-workers, Team Members are welcome to use any language they prefer if everyone there agrees to it. When speaking with customers or fellow Team Members, please make sure you are sensitive to others who may want to join your conversation or ask you a question. If needed, switch to a common language to be inclusive and respectful. If you do not understand English adequately, please inform a Team Leader so that communications may be translated for you. These guidelines are meant to help ensure safe, respectful, and courteous work environments. If they are not observed, the company reserves the right to take whatever corrective measures it feels is fair, equitable, and appropriate.

From: Kate Lowery (CE CEN) Sent: Friday, June 07, 2013 6:37 PM To: ralphnmlulac@gmail.com Subject: Guidelines for language

Mr. Arrellanes, Im glad we got to connect on the phone earlier today. I would like to give you an update and some additional information. I wanted to again clarify some details of this incident as it has been reported in the media. Contrary to some of yesterdays news reports, the two Team Members in question were suspended each for one day only -with pay- due to their behavior, and NOT as a result of speaking Spanish in the workplace. As we have sought to make clear, we absolutely do not forbid ANY languages from being used in our stores. Hopefully, our final revised policy will make this very clear to our Team Members and Team Leaders across the company. Our leadership made some changes for clarity and to more accurately reflect the spirit of our company. Below the revised version. We plan to post this internally on Monday so your feedback by then would be welcomed. For your information, we spoke with Hispanic legal counsel in New Mexico today, and they informed us that the other guidelines were in compliance with New Mexico state laws. Nevertheless, we made clarifications and improvements to the original language, which I will send to you in another email.

Thank you again for your time to speak with me this morning, and I look forward to any feedback or counsel you are willing to share on the revised draft. Sincerely, Kate Lowery Whole Foods Market ---Understanding Each Other Whole Foods Market has locations in metropolitan areas with diverse populations, and this is proudly reflected in our stores by our customers and Team Members. We celebrate the diversity of our customer and Team Member base, and the many cultures and languages they bring to the Whole Foods Market environment. Speaking a variety of different languages at our stores and facilities can sometimes present challenges, especially when it comes to safety, quality control, and ensuring positive relations between our customers and Team Members. We have a commitment to our customers that our food is prepared according to the proper recipes, that in-store safety practices are thoroughly understood at all times, and that courtesy and respect for our customers and fellow Team Members is practiced by all, regardless of the languages that are spoken. The following in-store guidelines will ensure we make good on this commitment and that we are all courteous, respectful and inclusive: - If you speak English and you need to communicate with English-speaking customers, please speak with them in English. -While speaking with customers or co-workers, Team Members are welcome to use any language they prefer if everyone there agrees to it. -When speaking with fellow Team Members or customers, please make sure you are sensitive to others who may want to join your conversation or ask you a question. If needed, switch to a common language to be inclusive and respectful.

-If you feel you do not understand English adequately, please inform a Team Leader so that all communications may be translated into a language that will ensure a safe and productive work environment for our customers, yourself and your fellow Team Members. If these guidelines that are meant to help ensure safe, respectful, and courteous work environments are not observed, the company reserves the right to take whatever corrective measures it feels are fair, equitable, and appropriate.