HILARIOUS: At Brooklyn’s Utopian Soviet-Style Park Slope Co-Op, Employees are Sick of the Man and Unionizing

Communism and socialism seem to sound good to some people. People — that is — who haven’t experienced communism or socialism.

In a hip Brooklyn neighborhood, there sits a “Soviet-style” paradise, a shelter from the storm of evil capitalism: the Park Slope Food Co-op.

Member-volunteers of the Marxist utopia can work a few hours a month and receive 20-40% off the “low-cost, environmentally friendly fare.”

Sounds fantastic. Everyone just pitches in.

Additionally, the store has about 75 on staff.

And that group is already achin’ to fight the Man. Forget this nirvana baloney — they’re ready to unionize. Power to the people!

As reported by the New York Post:

Employees of the Brooklyn food collective recently alleged unfair labor practices by the co-op in a filing with the US National Labor Relations Board.

In response, the crunchy-granola collective’s iron-fisted management threatened and punished those who support the effort — with one union-busting boss telling workers they “should have a backup plan” if their collective bargaining doesn’t bear fruit, according to a copy of the labor complaint filed by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. The missive was obtained by The Post through a Freedom of Information Act request.

You mean trusting one giant organization to decide what’s best for you ain’t the way to go?

Apparently so:

Most of the employees were afraid to provide details of their union battle, telling The Post that they feared their bosses would crack down on them. But one source said the overworked employees are demanding more staffing, better scheduling practices and more transparency from co-op brass.

“Obviously, there’s something going on that’s not fair. I don’t want to say too much right now,” an employee told the Post.

Sounds like nothing a bit of competition couldn’t fix.

More from The Daily Wire:

In the past, ironically, the co-op’s management has announced boycotts against American companies who they claim employ unfair labor practices. At times, they’ve resisted selling Coca-Cola, Domino sugar, and products from a local Kosher bakery. And in 2008, management began an effort to rid the store of all Israeli-produced products in solidarity with those fighting against the “occupation of Palestine.”

Both the Post and [Patch.com] report that this isn’t the first time the co-op’s bourgeoisie management and customer base have been exposed. In 2017, two of the six managers were accused of dipping into the store’s coffers to fund expensive flights to Europe, and in 2011, an internal investigation revealed that some of the co-op’s “members” were actually household staff of Brooklyn’s wealthier families, who were being shuttled to the co-op to work shifts so that their employers could recieve the grocery savings without having to get their hands dirty.

The employees are set to go before the National Labor Relations Board for review. They’re being repped by the Retail, Wholesale Department Store Workers Union.

Despite some of the best sleight of hand in the history of politics, the facts are this: Socialism and communism are paradigms of monopoly — government is the ultimate Big Business. Capitalism about the little person: the individual, who — in a free-market economy — may own his or her own business. And run it as they see fit. And with many “little” employers, would-be workers can pick and choose according to their desires and the demands of the jobs.

And that competition, by the way, produces “low-cost…fare.”

But I fear there are a whole lot of people right now — particularly among those under 40 — who believe the opposite to be true.

They’d do well to study up. Because, at the end of the day, everyone wants to have their normal, capitalist, local super markets. Not super Marxists.

-ALEX

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