Sep 29, 2026 · 41 min · 11 segments
In this episode, we explore the labor issues at Mother's Market, a natural food store in California, through the perspectives of Omar, a worker, and Andrew, a union organizer. We discuss unionization…
Andrew CohenGuest
Omar GayoGuest
Errol SchweizerHost
So, you know, I don't want to give, like, the previous ownership too much credit, but I think there was, like, a sense that you invest in your own employees, you know? And, like, the things we used to hear were, like, there were some perks of working at Mother's.
And you can kind of see now the way they run the store where staffing levels used to be.
And then when it was bought by the private equity firm, Mill Road Capital came in, the new CEO, Dorothy Carlo, got appointed.
And I think this is kind of like this sort of, it's like they used to have this lie in private equity where it's like they come in and be like, oh, we're going to actually like, you know, eliminate waste and like fix the business, improve things.
And like what they really just do is like take a hatchet to it and just cut everything that they can get away with.
And there were workers who were below it who were sort of waiting for their annual raise and it kept getting delayed and delayed.
And so a couple who were making minimum wage were telling us like back in November, oh, I just got like a 20 cent raise.
Well, you know, in two months, you're going to make that anyway, like, it was almost like they kind of like the most sort of like bare fig leaf of being like, hey, we're paying you this and not like this state is requiring us to pay you this.
I think there's a lot of like stories inside already of like managers that have been abusive.
They have this thing where like, you know, they're cut down to such a skeleton crew that if someone calls off, like they can't function anymore.
So, you know, I don't want to give, like, the previous ownership too much credit, but I think there was, like, a sense that you invest in your own employees, you know? And, like, the things we used to hear were, like, there were some perks of working at Mother's.
And you can kind of see now the way they run the store where staffing levels used to be.
And then when it was bought by the private equity firm, Mill Road Capital came in, the new CEO, Dorothy Carlo, got appointed.
And I think this is kind of like this sort of, it's like they used to have this lie in private equity where it's like they come in and be like, oh, we're going to actually like, you know, eliminate waste and like fix the business, improve things.
And like what they really just do is like take a hatchet to it and just cut everything that they can get away with.
And there were workers who were below it who were sort of waiting for their annual raise and it kept getting delayed and delayed.
And so a couple who were making minimum wage were telling us like back in November, oh, I just got like a 20 cent raise.
Well, you know, in two months, you're going to make that anyway, like, it was almost like they kind of like the most sort of like bare fig leaf of being like, hey, we're paying you this and not like this state is requiring us to pay you this.
I think there's a lot of like stories inside already of like managers that have been abusive.
They have this thing where like, you know, they're cut down to such a skeleton crew that if someone calls off, like they can't function anymore.
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