The North Carolina-based No Evil Foods presents itself as a socially-conscious, values-driven manufacturer of vegan foods. They claim to be the fastest-growing meat alternative in the country, currently available at more than 5,000 retailers. They sell products called "Comrade Cluck" and "El Zapatista." Their website boasts things like:
We offer a living wage to our employees and paid-time off for everyone, even our hourly hustlers. We support health and sustainability with our Vegan at Work & Family Meal programs and our policies reflect inclusivity and safety for all.
and
No Evil Foods is now coast-to-coast, leading the pack for environmentally sustainable, plant-based meats that feed and fuel the movement toward a better food system.
Unfortunately, their un-evil antics apparently end at workers rights. As Jacobin reports:
No Evil told Reynolds he was fired for social-distancing violations, something that other workers say was a pretext for retaliating against him for organizing. Reynolds noted how other companies, such as Amazon, have used social distancing violations to target organizers. Another leader in the organizing efforts, Cortne Roche, says she was fired for dress code violations — she was told her pants were "too short" — but she too sees this as retaliation for organizing.
"I think they are full of shit," says another ex-employee who was involved in the organizing drive and was recently fired. "It is a huge red-flag when a company uses this much left-wing imagery and has a turnover rate as high as they do." "The owners of this company are faking progressive values harder than they are faking meat," they added.
Vice has the union-busting audio receipts, too.
Here's the founders' argument for opposing workers' rights, according to Vice:
I sincerely believe that right now a union would be a terrible thing for you and for No Evil Foods," Woliansky told workers at the mandatory meeting in January. "A union contact would only serve to lessen our impact at a time when it's so important in the world…If there's an election here, I ask you to vote 'no' on a union.
Union-busting is, unfortunately, an all-too-common choice made by companies that are ostensibly founded on progressive principles, once they see their brand taking off. The irony of a company that put "No Evil" in its name engaging in such tactics is particularly cringe-worthy.
Workers at No Evil Foods Say the Vegan, Progressive Company Busted Their Union Drive [Alex N. Press / Jacobin]
Audio: No Evil Foods, a Faux Leftist Vegan-Meat Company, Busts Union Drive [Lauren Kaori Gurley / Vice]
