HISTORY MADE: Seattle workers made labor history on September 19th with a unanimous City Council vote to pass secure scheduling.
From Starbucks to McDonald's to Target, more and more companies are demanding we offer them 24/7 availability — but they're not offering us the flexibility we need to care for our families, contribute to our communities, and live balanced lives.
It seems like either you don’t get enough hours to pay the bills, or you get stuck with a workload that never ends — and you might not know which one it’s going to be until the workweek has already gotten started
You can’t live your life on a few day’s notice. If you don’t get your schedule until right before the workweek starts, everything becomes a scramble and it’s almost impossible get a second job, go back to school, make time to help your kids with their homework, or even just make an appointment.
That's why workers in coffee, fast food, and other jobs are speaking out about how unstable, unpredictable schedules are affecting their lives, budgets, and families — and what can be done to make our schedules more secure:
- Flexibility for workers, not just big companies: We need to protect our ability to voluntarily swap shifts with co-workers so we can keep things in balance when life happens.
- Access to hours: part-time workers who want more hours should have a shot at getting those hours before additional part-timers are brought on.
- Right to rest: We should eliminate clopenings by making sure nobody is forced to work back-to-back shifts that are less than 11 hours apart.
- Advance notice of schedules: Everyone should know when they're going to work and how many hours they're going to get — and one week or one day's notice doesn't cut it.
More information:
- Details on the key secure scheduling policies
- Frequently asked questions about secure scheduling
- Our summary and analysis of the city-commissioned report on current scheduling practices.
- New research shows the health impacts of unstable & insecure schedules.
I just think that consistency is key, and it seems like it's hard to have consistent hours here. It's frustrating when you do get hours but then you're sent home to cut labor or because it's slow. There's no way to plan your life. I don't think that work should be a hindrance."
That's one week. But we have to request vacation time 3 weeks in advance. l'm a shift supervisor but my baristas are getting shafted."
…no matter how sick I am. It is common knowledge that you are responsible for finding your own coverage, and it's also common knowledge that you won't find any. One day I was so sick I spread out some cardboard on the floor so I could at least lay down and my baristas called me when they needed me.”
Secure scheduling advanced out of committee Thursday morning. But now the bill has an amendment that excludes workers in counties they classify as rural. People who work at the Walmart in Pasco need advance notice just like people who work at the Walmart in Renton. People who work at Taco Bell in Aberdeen need access to hours just like people who work at Taco Bell in Spokane. And people who work at the Olive Garden in Yakima need input into their schedules just like people who work at the Olive Garden in Vancouver.
The big food & retail chains don’t seem to love the idea of making our schedules work for us, too. They’re even sending general managers and lobbyists to tell the state legislature that despite all the evidence, workers don’t really have a problem with their work schedules. That’s why it’s so important that we show up and speak out about the realities of unstable and unpredictable work schedules. They need to hear that our time counts too!
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.
By a unanimous vote, Seattle made labor history once again by passing secure scheduling — the first new labor standard to address weekly work schedules since overtime pay became law in the 1930s. This landmark victory in Seattle is only the beginning in the fight for balanced and flexible schedules in Washington State and across the country
“Secure scheduling is the the first new labor standard to address weekly work schedules since overtime pay became law in the 1930s. Seattle is breaking new ground that will change the balance of power in coffee, food, and retail workplaces across the city." — Sejal Parikh, Executive Director, Working Washington
A key Seattle City Council committee is set to vote Tuesday morning on whether or not to advance who would be the nation’s strongest secure scheduling ordinance to a vote of the full council — at the same time as two new reports underscore the extent and impact of unstable & insecure schedules.
WOW! Today’s committee hearing on secure scheduling was incredible — more than hour of public comment, almost entirely in support of the basic principle that our time counts! Check out our top 10 moments from the hearing (in no particular order) — and take a look at the top 1 sign.
We hosted an expert academic panel including Dr. Anna Haley-Lock (Rutgers University), Daniel Schneider (UC Berkeley) and Dr. Kristen Harknett (University of Pennsylvania, UC Berkeley) on the effects of unstable & unstable scheduling
Just two years after Seattle passed $15, baristas and fast food workers with Working Washington are making history again with a secure scheduling law that provides the balance, flexibility, and power it takes to care for your family, contribute to your community, and build a better future.
We’re closing in on passing a secure scheduling law that brings flexibility and balance for Seattle workers, and big business lobby groups are desperate to stop the change. We're making sure city council hears the needs of workers, because #OurTimeCounts too!
Despite serious methodological issues, the full 119-page city-commissioned report reaffirms the need for action on secure scheduling by showing how frequently workers experience short-notice schedules, clopens, and access to hours issues, and how inequitable the impacts are.
An industry lobby group surveyed workers about scheduling, and a quarter to a third reported issues with flexibility, advance notice, and access to hours — and that's just the answers the lobby group released!
We support a secure scheduling ordinance that includes advance notice of our schedules so we can plan our lives, predictability pay for being flexible if things change, shift swapping for additional flexibility when life happens, access to hours for those who want them, and a right to rest which eliminates mandatory clopens
It takes less than two minutes for you to tell City Council you support secure scheduling policies, including advance notice of schedules, right to rest, and access to hours. Whatever your job is and whatever your schedule is like, take a moment and let Council know that our time counts, too!
Baristas aren't going to stop organizing until they see that personal commitment from the CEO become a reality in every store, and see it be matched by a corporate commitment to support secure scheduling policies in Seattle and across the country.
Former top Starbucks exec Howard Behar recently spent more than $14,000 to buy a full-page ad in the Seattle Times. We don’t have that kind of money to burn, so we charged $10 for tickets to our Secure Scheduling Story Slam. Here’s the thing: we also showed up in the Seattle Times.
Seattle workers are leading the fight for secure scheduling — and their voices will take center stage at our Secure Scheduling Story Slam on Thursday, June 16th, presented by Working Washington and Seattlish.
A letter to Mayor Murray and the Seattle City Council expressing support for secure scheduling, signed by more than 30 different organizations with tens of thousands of members.
An inside look at how big businesses like Target work their agendas in private — while entirely opting out of the public debate.
Listen to our live teletownhall, originally broadcast Thursday, May 26, 2016
Secure scheduling is coming to Seattle. Join us for a live Tele-town hall May 26th to learn more, ask questions, and get involved.
We are putting together a 24-hour calendar about how insecure schedules affect our work, our homes, and our lives. We’re calling it “Day of Our Life” and you’re the star.
Starbucks sign-production department follows through on corporate commitment to post three weekly schedules… but workers at actual Seattle Starbucks store only get one weeks’ notice anyway.
A few tweets on how unpredictable, unstable schedules in retail & food service affect everyone
Take a look at what the business lobby has been saying about secure scheduling, and you'll see the ultimate flexibility: flexibility with the truth. That's because there's just no honest way to convince someone that their hours ought to vary wildly from one week to the next, or that flexibility should always work to the benefit of companies, but never in the opposite direction.
Wow: the Washington Post got their hands on a national poll conducted for a coalition of state chambers of commerce, and it turns out the business lobby doesn’t even have the support of its own members in their opposition to secure scheduling.
Our survey of Seattle coffee, food service, and other workers shows that half of service workers receive their schedules just one week in advance — or less. Women are less likely to have secure schedules than men, people of color are less likely to have secure schedules than white workers, and most service workers don't have the flexibility they need to care for their families, contribute to their communities, and live their lives.