About the 80% figure--- one director's off the cuff estimate for his region, and just supermarkets.  Someone mentioned national stats from a unionstats page that listed 20%, which still seems a little low to me but makes sense nationwide considering the whole south and southwest density probably about 0.  But it's a little ironic to even debate whether supermarkets are highly unionized, especially in the context of anti-intellectualism; because since I've been working on this article, I've been talking to a lot of people in my spare time about supermarket jobs, and people who've worked in the service industry don't generally debate you on whether supermarkets are highly unionized, because it's just common knowledge.  Anyone (self included) who's worked in one knows supermarkets offer slightly better health benefits than a highschool dropout is likely to find elsewhere in the world of mcjobs.  This brings up interesting questions about the different types of knowledge available to different types of folks, and sheds light on my own instinctive distrust (but by no means blanket disdain) of lefty academics. BTW, I'm pretty sure the most highly unionized industries in the US are airlines and casinos (and the two different stories of how the unions in those respective industries are using their power is a very, very instructive tale on the merits of consolidated industrial unionism).  <div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"> [WS:] Perhaps.  But I find it hard to believe the 80% figure.  The corresponding figure for the public sector, definitely the most unionized sector in this country, is about 36%.  That would make US food retailers the most unionized industry in the US, and probably in the world. [WS:] No doubt, but so is most of the US industry.  So why singling out Whole Foods, which suspiciously coincides with the blue collar vitriol against environmentalism and urban liberalism?  My point is not that anti-union image is unfair for Whole Foods, but that singling it out is - and smacks of culture wars.  It is akin to attacking capitalism by singling out Jews - it makes one think that anti-capitalism is really a veneer for a kulturkampf.</blockquote><div> Holy shit!  Hating on Whole Paycheck is seriously akin to anti-semitism?!?!?!?  Are you joking man?!?!  I do not mean to be dismissive but I seriously find this assertion to be the funniest thing I've ever read on here (a considerable thing). There's a good article on whole foods' busting of a union in wisconsin by one of the busted union members, debbie rasmussen, reposted at <a href="http://djwilson.livejournal.com/130643.html">http://djwilson.livejournal.com/130643.html</a>. But I'm just putting this out there; I shop mostly at union stores, but not entirely, and I even shop of that bastion of (cheap) vegan elitism trader joes (three dollar wine man!). </div> </div>