Members of the Workers Organizing Committee of Chicago (WOCC) delivered a national petition with more than 60,000 signatures to Whole Foods’ regional office Friday morning.
The petition demands that the company reinstate a Chicago employee who organizers say was unjustly terminated earlier this month.
Former Whole Foods employee Rhiannon Broschat, who worked at the store in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood, said she was fired after calling off work on January 28 in order to stay home and care for her special needs child. The city's public schools were closed that day due to extreme low temperatures.
Broschat and members of UltraViolet, Women Employed and WOCC are calling on the company to "honor their policy to allow for family leave for Whole Foods employees so that no parent has to choose between caring for a child and a paycheck ever again," according to the union.
Members of UltraViolet, a national women's group, are also dropping off the petition today at Whole Foods' national headquarters in Austin, TX.
Check back with Progress Illinois for a full report on today's petition delivery.