Target raised wages. Then it cut workers’ hours and doubled their workload – By Michael Sainato (The Guardian) / Feb 27 2020
Workers say Target is making drastic cuts to their schedules and doubling their workload as it increases minimum wage under its ‘modernization plan’ to increase efficiency
Adam Ryan, 31, has worked at Target in Christiansburg, Virginia, for three years. He works additional jobs whenever he’s able to, but is regularly scheduled only 20 hours per week at Target, despite having open availability.
“I have to live with my family because I can’t afford rent on my own. I don’t have health insurance. I’ve had a rotting tooth in my mouth for years that I haven’t been able to receive treatment. I’ve applied for Medicaid in Virginia and every time I’m told I make too much money, and Target has told me I don’t qualify for their benefits because I don’t get enough hours,” said Ryan, who is also an organizer with Target Workers Unite, an independent initiative of Target workers.
He makes $13 an hour, the hourly minimum wage at Target since June 2019, which is scheduled to increase to $15 an hour by the end of 2020.
But Ryan and several other Target workers have noted a drastic reduction in scheduled hours and significant increases in workloads as Target has increased their minimum wage and rolled out a “modernization plan” in 2019 to increase efficiency. They think that broader influences in the retail sector are responsible for their plight – notably, the actions of their hard-charging rival Amazon.
“They’re responding to what Amazon is doing,” Ryan added. “They are trying to turn these stores into their own distribution centers, using brick-and-mortar stores. We have to be warehouse workers and customer service workers.”
Target Workers Unite recently released a survey of more than 500 Target workers around the US, representing 382 different stores in 44 states. Only 12.7% of the workers who responded said they could survive on the wages from Target alone, with 56% of workers citing they have ran out of food while employed at Target, and 12.8% of workers reported experiencing homelessness.
Continue to article: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/feb/27/target-cuts-hours-leaves-workers-struggling
