“As the system is set up now, competition almost forces employers to hire as few workers as possible and work them as many hours as possible.”
Read Moreit meant moving up to full-time hours
Some people had other full-time jobs, so they were scheduled on the weekends. A couple other people were offered at least 25 hours/week. And for me and a couple other coworkers, it meant moving up to full-time hours. One of my coworkers had been working three different jobs before secure scheduling, and afterwards she was finally able to get a steady 40-hour schedule, so she was able to quit her other two jobs, which was a huge relief for her.
Read More"We were generally required to work 45 hours per week or so, but could work as many as 70 to 80."
“Because it didn’t cost my employer anything to keep me working whatever hours they wanted, they didn’t have to take my time into consideration. And so they didn’t.”
Read More"my annual salary was $34,000 a year, with no paid overtime"
As a full-time employee in administration and development, my annual salary was $34,000 a year, with no paid overtime. I was responsible for training volunteers outside of normal work hours, working programmed events that took place from 6 - 10 PM, and administering our annual gala and other fundraising events associated with a major capital campaign, so I frequently worked overtime without compensation.
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"In exchange, I worked 60-90 hours every single week."
"I was a chef/kitchen manager at a restaurant in the Ballard neighborhood in Seattle and got paid a salary of $29,000 a year.
In exchange, I worked 60-90 hours every single week.”
Read More"Businesses can never pay you what your time is worth — your time is invaluable. But they don’t even try."
They try to make folks exempt so they don’t have to pay extra. The way everything works, there’s so much turnover in doing the job. So if I can’t fill a shift any other way, then I have to fill in the shift myself. The shift has to be filled. If one of my hourly staff does it, it’s overtime pay. If I do it, it’s free for the company. But it’s the same shift.
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"No one should have to work 65 hours a week and get paid for 40."
When companies classify workers like me as "overtime exempt," they're basically getting free labor. There were days where I'd spend 14 hours at work instead of 10 because my night cook got sick. I ran through that restaurant like a hurricane, forgetting to take breaks, forgetting to eat even when there was food right in front of me. Someone had to pick up the slack, and since I was the manager, it fell to me. But it affected the entire staff — constantly working unpaid overtime put me at odds with my crew and made me a worse manager.
Read MoreHow we’re turning workers’ rights into reality
by Khalid Elmi & Nikole Larsson
Winning strong laws is important, but we've seen for ourselves that we can’t rely on the law to enforce itself. We need to build organizations of workers that have each other's backs. That’s what Labor Day is all about.
Read More"Just like millions of other Americans who come home every night with aching feet"
"I saw no future for myself, and no way out. The only other jobs I could find paid similarly and were the same menial jobs like the one that I had. I couldn't think about my future because it seemed too bleak."
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"I’ve been a working mom all my life."
Wrenching parents away from new babies, or older children away from sick and dying parents, or partners away from sick or dying partners, any way you look at it, it's unfair and actually ridiculous in a society as "advanced" as we seem to think ours is.
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