ONF, co-opted.

Part 1: in preparation of tonight's member meeting

Ozark Natural Foods (the “Co-Op,” if you must) has come a long way from its homegrown shop off West Ave—spiritually and economically. Physically, it has only moved half a mile, but if the special meeting this upcoming Monday (the 27th) at 6 pm tells us anything, it’s an ideological marathon away. While the ONF of old advertised juice, Still on the Hill peace sticks (editor’s note: OG public art), and a 20% working discount, our rebranded Co-Op is apparently paying employees less than competitors and putting the whole economic-justice-minded “cooperative” thing on the back burner.

Per bylaws, Co-op members can call for a special meeting with a 75-signature petition, and the requisite amount of members have done just that. Here’s the petition that requested Monday’s meeting:

Let’s compare to the Co-Op’s meeting announcement:

A meeting on “treatment of employees” sanitized to “employee management?” The (punchy, display font!) PR pamphlets at checkout? Questions about “troubling” rumors about staff treatment at the January board meeting?

Are your labor-conscious alarm bells going off yet? Were those alarm bells made in a unionized plant? Were they sold at a unionized store? Not if you got them at the Co-Op.

I’d love to dive into all four points, but time is of the essence, so let’s start with that first one. Not to be a cynic, but “employee management” almost always means the big three: wages, hours, and conditions. Anything on the hours and conditions front would be speculative, but it’s worth mentioning last year’s allegations transgender employees were facing difficulties with management regarding deadnaming. But wages! Wages, we can dive into. 

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According to the most recent Insta posts about job fairs, wages start at $12/hour. Fayetteville’s other health stores—Whole Foods (boo, hiss) famously start at $15 and Natural Grocers (according to a 2021 article) starts at $14 but seems to have a wider range that averages out around $18.43. 

Employees get benefits other than sub-living wages, though: ONF’s baseline employee discount (22%) is a cheeky 2% higher than Whole Foods’s 20%. Their benefits are (surface level) comparable—health, vision, dental, and life insurance. The Co-Op matches retirement at 3%, Whole Foods gives 401(k) contributions at the end of calendar years to employees who have stuck around. 

Please Note— This is NOT a defense of Whole Foods’s labor practices. Their corporate overlords are still dirty rat bastards actively engaged in union-busting. What started as a funky Austin (it always comes back to Austin) health food outpost has grown into the asparagus-water peddling, billionaire-led mess that uses surveillance technology to prevent unionization. And they’re paying better than the Co-Op. This is the same Co-Op that’s referenced potential Bentonville expansion plans in recent meetings (hinted at in the ominous “direction in the future” point), the same Co-Op that seems to be leaning into the “community” buzzword-without-beef (or beans, if you’re plant-based) marketing plans, and the same Co-Op that may just be forgetting economic justice is tied to food in a way nobody will escape. 

Yet again, full-fat Austin has provided us a cautionary tale of what happens when capitalism and image get the better of our good intentions. Except, this time, it’s not happening in a closed-door Walton Family Foundation boardroom—this conversation is getting hashed out in the Fayetteville Public Library in a conversation that all Co-Op members can (and should!) attend. 

To whoever is inevitably thinking, “Be pragmatic, Julia. Of course our grocery cooperative can’t pay the same as a grocery chain owned by J*ff B*zos,” I say: 1) You’re boring and unimaginative, and 2) the whole point of a cooperative is equity, and if Ozark Natural Foods—founded in 1974, —can’t be aspirational, what can be? 

We can and should expect a level of community consciousness from our cooperatives, especially when their original Articles of Incorporation agree to “strive to deal openly and lovingly with each other, in an environment free and congenial, in the spirit of mutual service and brotherhood” and was created to “enhance the quality of our lives and the quality of life in our community.” When median rent for a 1-bedroom is approaching $1,000 a month in Fayetteville, $12/hour—that’s $1,920 a month pre-tax--doesn’t seem to do much for the quality of life for employees, who are by definition extremely active members of our food system. 

We can ask for better from our co-op, because damn it, it’s a co-op and members are supposed to be engaged participants. I’m just as guilty as the next person for not going to board meetings regularly. Still, when we start seeing these key phrases like “employee management,” it’s time (specifically, Monday, March 27th at 6 pm) to start paying closer attention. 

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Written by Julia Nall.