Could this article be followed up with a companion piece based on interviews with workers who disagree with the move? If this sounds like a good idea, I’d like suggest three long-term and loyal employees you might want to speak with—one from each of the three food production departments slated to leave downtown Carrboro:

Claudia Lopez has worked in the market’s kitchen for 12 years. She says that the hands-on creativity of her work has always been of utmost importance to her, but feels this has been encouraged less and less in recent years. As she and others have been required to make larger and larger batches to supply additional demand, she has seen quality and care go down. She fears this will worsen with a move to the Food House and is not sure she will be able to handle it. She thinks introducing “some weird machines” to the process will only distance her further from a real connection to her work.

Camila Redzovic, a Bosnian refugee, has been working in our pastry department for 12 years. In response the push for starting shifts earlier at the Food House, she says flat-out that Weaver Street Market could not pay her enough to work before 4:00 am. She does not want her job to move from her community, where she walks two blocks to work every morning, but she feels she has no choice in the matter. She thinks the new facility will be “like a factory.”

Emily Buehler has worked as a baker at the store for six years since earning a PhD in Chemistry from UNC. More than any other baker, Emily has opened up our bakery and our craft to the public through Bakery Open House Nights, bread baking classes, and articles in the store’s newsletters. Her recently self-published book, Bread Science, has sold over 600 copies. Emily states that while she agrees with Ruffin’s vision of putting small stores downtown to move people closer to their food, she wonders why this can’t also apply to food workers who wish to work in their own communities. She notes that a move to a commissary model of food production will actually serve to distance customers from the preparation of their food at the same time the store is touting its concept of Authentic Food and the need to close that distance.

I believe giving a voice to the concerns of these and other workers is just as important as hearing more about Ruffin’s plans. At a time when many employees at Weaver Street Market feel their dissent is being glossed over or ignored, it would be good to know our new local paper could serve as a remedy. Without balanced reporting about a contentious issue, such articles could be accused of being more spin control than responsible journalism.