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Smartphone records Minneapolis officer making arrest

"Plain and simple, if you fuck with me, I’m going to break your leg before you get the chance to run. I’m being honest I don’t screw around,” the officer said.

Mohamed’s friend said in return, “I never said I was going to run.”

"I’m just giving you a heads up. Just trying to be officer friendly right now,” the officer said.

Faysal Mohamed, 17, sent Fox 9 the video recorded by his friend, which he also posted on his Twitter account. He said after playing basketball at the YMCA on Blaisdell Avenue in south Minneapolis with friends on March 18, police pulled over their car. The four were ordered out, put in hand cuffs, and they waited nearly 45 minutes as police searched their vehicle and did background checks.

“Can you tell me why I’m being arrested?” a friend asks in the video.

“Because I feel like arresting you,” the officer replied.

You fucking see what they do? Absolutely incompetent, rude, criminal behavior of cop shows us the American system of law enforcement. Do you think that if ain’t no killed, then everything is OK? - No. It is not. Such behavior of the police remain unpunished only in a police state. You want to live in such a state? - I do not think so … Social media help us fight tyranny, so let’s use this opportunity.

Whole Foods workers with the Industrial Workers of the World conducted a work stoppage and picket yesterday in San Francisco. A delegation of 20 cashiers, stockers, and cooks at Whole Foods Market initiated a temporary work stoppage to deliver a petition to Whole Foods management demanding a $5 an hour wage increase for all employees and no retaliation against workers for organizing a union.

Over 50 workers from the 4th Street store signed the petition. In addition to demanding the $5 per hour wage increase, the petition raises issues about paid time off, hours and scheduling, safety and health, and a retirement plan.

Whole Foods workers have demanded a response from Whole Foods by November 14, when their next paychecks are due. If management fails to respond, workers will begin taking job actions.

Whole Foods is a multinational chain with over 400 stores in the US, Canada and Great Britain, with $13 billion in annual sales, and 80,000 employees. Prices are high, which is why Whole Foods is colloquially known as Whole Paycheck.

Beneath Whole Foods’ glossy image of social responsibility, “working conditions at Whole Foods reflect the low industry standards that dominate all food and retail industries,” according to the workers’ website wfmunite.com. Despite the company’s claims to the contrary, “low wages, constant understaffing, [and] inconsistent schedules” are rampant company-wide. Just recently CEO John Mackey announced that the company would be phasing out full-time positions for new hires. Meanwhile, workers say the company has forced them to shoulder more and more of the costs of their limited health benefits.

Whole Foods currently has over 100 stores in development. Case Garver, a buyer in the Prepared Foods department, has seen enough of the doublespeak. “It seems like every 6 months they open up a brand new store,” he stated, “while at the same time my manager turns around and says the company doesn’t have enough money to give us 40 hours a week. We’re tired of doing more with less.”

Azalia Martinez, a cashier at the store, relates that in addition to working full time for Whole Foods, going to school and fulfilling family obligations, she must take additional side jobs to make ends meet. “It’s extremely hard,” she says.

Despite the hardships, workers at the store know that they can win better wages by standing together. “History proves that workers have the power to make change when we come together to fight for our interests. We are re-igniting a workers’ movement where we have power: on the job. […] This is our movement, we are capable of victory, and we are worth it.”