Shutterstock
Who works 9-to-5 any more? Hardly anyone. And a lot of people don’t even have a solid work schedule; they receive their schedules just a few days in advance. With so many companies relying on scheduling software, workers hours are set digitally without benefit of knowing that worker’s conditions (ie. single mother, student.) So any sort of planning ahead for life outside of work becomes nearly impossible.
According to research by University of Chicago professor Susan J. Lambert, 41 percent of early-career hourly workers—people in their mid-20s and early 30s—learn about their schedules a week or less in advance. For African-Americans, it’s 49 percent. And just one in five of these workers has a say in when their shifts will be. Also, the hours worked by part-timers in a given week fluctuate, on average, as much as 87 percent.
“After three-quarters of a century under the 40-hour standard, workers are relearning how to fight over the clock,” reports Redef.
But some workers are fighting back. Last May, workers at retailer Zara throughout New York City began handing in petitions to their managers to give to set work hours. If Zara does respond positively, organizers at Retail Action Project (RAP) and Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) Zara might be the company to help shift the tide of the scheduling crisis.
The two organizations are working to empower workers. In fact, RAP offers classes for retail workers, covering subjects like customer service and visual merchandising, “Know your rights” and Unions 101.
RAP has been tackling the scheduling crisis since 2011, when it conducted a study of the city’s retail workers with City University of New York sociologist Stephanie Luce. “While part-time is an attractive choice for some workers,” the report concluded, “this explosive growth of part-timers is because of underemployment, not because of worker choice.” RAP ran campaigns around the hours at Abercrombie & Fitch, Juicy Couture, and Victoria’s Secret before focusing on Zara.
And there has been some progress. “On December 15, Zara retail workers across the country received a letter announcing a new pay scale, which amounted to a raise of from $1 to $3 per hour. Full-time jobs would become more available for those who wanted them,” reports Redef.
