- Just two years after Seattle passed the landmark $15 minimum wage, baristas and fast food workers with Working Washington are making history again by passing the nation’s strongest secure scheduling law, including advance notice of shifts, predictability pay, a right to rest, and access to hours.
I'd like to see this law passed everywhere. It's such a drag for fast food workers when the managers give them their shift one week before. Lots of good stuff on the links in this article for those who are interested in labour fairness.
Whose worked in fast food? What was the worst part?
The ten hour mandatory rest period would have pissed me off a few years ago. I used to work 36 hours in three shifts which would have violated this kind of rule (not that it was at an employer big enough to qualify under this law). It was one of the best schedules I ever had. Three days of work and four days of rest was divine. I had to fight hard to get that schedule, the boss worried that I would burn out but I found it super agreeable. It was a set in stone schedule. I'd guess I had a run where aside from picking up an occasional shift or a giving one away by choice my boss didn't bother me off of it for at least a year straight. Seems like it will only effect a handful of workers at the biggest firms.
It's aimed squarely at Starbuck's just-in-time scheduling. Starbuck's pledged to change their policy the very next day but apparently not everything is hunky-dory.Starbucks says it has no knowledge of anyone at the company using Shyft. The company, which said this week it will boost wages by at least 5 percent, makes one million manual schedule changes per week and said it empowers managers to allow those. "We would rather our partners work with their store managers to make those changes," said spokewoman Linda Mills. "We're not seeing a huge demand for that external technology." Partner is Starbucks-speak for baristas and other workers. A spokeswoman for Gap, Old Navy's parent company, declined to comment, and McDonald's didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.