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Jose Linares, an employee at Whole Foods Market in Portland, says the grocery store has too many employees, including "pickers" for home delivery orders, to maintain proper social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic. Two other employees expressed similar concerns in an affidavit. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer
Three Whole Foods Market workers are speaking out about what they describe as unsafe conditions at the Portland store, saying its successful Amazon home delivery service is contributing to overcrowding that makes it difficult for customers and employees to maintain proper physical distancing.
Jose Linares, who has worked at the store for a year, said Whole Foods doesn’t count “pickers” – employees who are shopping for home delivery customers – toward the number of shoppers allowed in the store, although their presence can clog aisles. He said it’s not unusual for 20 to 30 pickers to be working at a time, and they have no separate space to seal the bags and apply stickers to them. That means it’s done on the main floor of the store, further clogging the aisles, he said.