Where are those pitchforks? Workers Are Constantly on Edge of the Knife

[99th_Monkey]

Remember this the next time you ask -- in response to latest travesty -- "where is the outrage?"

"Workers Are Constantly on the Edge of the Knife"
Friday, 12 September 2014 * By Amy B Dean, Truthout | Interview

Picture your typical week: Maybe you have a doctor's appointment or a child's music performance to attend. You may have urgent errands to run on your day off from work. Now, imagine having to achieve these things without knowing your actual work schedule, knowing that at any moment you could be called in to work - or that you could hustle to get to your job and then be told that you're not needed after all, or maybe sent home after only getting an hour's work.

Under what is known as "just-in-time scheduling," employers increasingly require that their employees remain constantly on call and give them little advance notice about schedules. Large retail employers have begun using digital scheduling systems that detect minute fluctuations in business throughout the day and tailor employees' work hours to the precise times when customers are most likely to shop. Instead of using this technology to make life easier and more predictable for everyone, they are using it to maximize profits at their employees' expense. These practices are making it impossible for employees to live normal lives.

Sometimes, employees have told researchers, workers don't know what hours they are scheduled until they show up to punch in. Or, an employee shows up for a scheduled shift and is told to go home - effectively denying that person their day's pay. The impact is a sense of constant precarious living. "Just-in-time scheduling" deprives employees of the ability to plan their lives, to schedule childcare, attend family events or take care of their own health. It also means many employees don't get to work enough hours at one job to make ends meet. This unpredictability of such employment is especially problematic for the 7.5 million part-time workers who say they wish to have full-time positions.

The most abusive forms of "just-in-time scheduling" reflect a wider trend. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 47 percent of hourly-wage workers aged 26-32 say they get a week or less of advance notice about what hours they have to work.

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/26120-workers-are-constantly-on-the-edge-of-the-knife

[leftstreet]

1. DURec