Posted on 10/22/2019 8:32:27 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Under pressure from activists, Target announced in September 2017 that it would hike wages for all 323,000 employees to at least $15 per hour by 2020.
This was a major victory for the "Fight for $15" movement—a win that was supposed to have repercussions for retail and fast food workers everywhere. "Our momentum is unstoppable," a Minneapolis Fight for $15 organizer told Common Dreams.
Two years later, the story is pretty different.
"I got that dollar raise but I'm getting $200 less in my paycheck," a Target employee named Heather told CNN. Heather's hours have been cut from about 40 per week to around 20, she explained.
And she's hardly alone. CNN Business (which withheld employees' last names) has interviewed 23 Target employees in the past month. Many tell the same story: They are working fewer hours and have lost some employment benefits as a result. Target only provides health insurance benefits to workers who average at least 30 hours of work a week.
It's almost as though hourly wages are only one part of a worker's compensation—and that hiking wages might cause other, unintended consequences.
Unlike businesses in states that have recently set higher minimum wages, Target made the decision to raise their wages voluntarily. So it's likely the company undertook its decision with a more holistic view of how to compensate its employees—and how to offset a wage increase with reductions in hours or benefits, or by overhauling its operations. Target COO John Mulligan told CNN that the company created more specialized positions focused on efficiency.
It's also possible that the employees interviewed by CNN don't represent the norm across the more than 360,000 workers at Target stores in America. In any company of that size, there will always be some people who are having their hours reduced
(Excerpt) Read more at reason.com ...
Employers of over 50 people have to provide insurance for any working 30 hours or more.
A diligent FReeper showed a math illustration as to how 29 hours x $15/hour was going to bring the total wage up to roughly what it was at 40 hours x a lower minimum wage. The idea was that many Americans were going to be partially idled in response to the law.
Very disturbing...
If it doesn’t have your name on it pass it
on down the line and make someone happy.
I work at Von’s and our store just installed 10 self checkout stands, most customers now are very tech savvy and they actually enjoy checking themselves out!!! Only one staff member needs to be there to help the customers!! WE ALL warned them what would happen you can’t fix stupid!!!
Go to Wally World and you’ll find many using the self check.
I like it especially if I don’t have a lot of items. Now paydays
or payday weekends are different and there will be more cashier
lines open.
“...health insurance, which she views as a freebie.”
The health insurance included with full-time employment was equivalent to several thousand extra dollars in pay.
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