Amazon-owned Whole Foods reportedly told managers that workers couldn't wear Black Lives Matter signage at work because it was 'opening the door for union activity'

• Whole Foods was worried that employees wearing Black Lives Matter signs could be seen as pro-union.

• One higher-up said it might be opening the door for union activity.

• Employees of Whole Foods have been fighting over the dress code.

A new report sheds light on the company's argument that employees should be allowed to wear Black Lives Matter messaging at work.

The prosecutor who led the legal fight for Whole Foods workers' rights to don masks and other clothing supporting the BLM movement was written about in a Monday feature.

Higher-ups are worried that doing so will cause a political conflict with customers. Managers might be concerned about how allowing it would open the door for union activity according to an internal email.

Amazon did not reply immediately. Bezos supports the BLM movement in 2020.

The movement received a renewed sense of importance after George Floyd's death. Whole Foods employees started wearing BLM masks and other clothing to show their support.

A group of Whole Foods employees sued their employer in July 2020 after they were banned from wearing such apparel. Whole Foods had previously allowed workers to wear Pride flags to show their support for their coworkers, but it was only after the lawsuit that Whole Foods began to enforce it more strictly.

Whole Foods instituted a stricter dress code policy in October of that year that banned workers from wearing any kind of logo, slogan, messaging, flags, or any type of symbol.

Whole Foods was accused of breaking federal law when it banned its employees from wearing BLM messaging. Whole Foods was accused of sending some workers home without pay and firing others.

The National Labor Relations Board was trying to violate Whole Foods' First Amendment rights.

Whole Foods Market's general counsel singling out the phrase "Black Lives Matter" is impermissibly favoring and requiring that Whole Foods Market favor certain expressions of political speech over others in its retail grocery stores.

A US appeals court ruled in June that the Whole Foods employees who filed a lawsuit were not discriminated against by the company.

The National Labor Relations Board's trial with Whole Foods is expected to conclude soon.

Business Insider has an article on it.