Archived Hours cut! Everybody is really pissed off at my store!

[Tessa120]

Wow, I go to work for a few hours and this thread managed to go from a friendly mutual bitchfest focused on one thing to a war over the evils of the social, political and economic consequences of the application of capitalism.

I have to ask the regulars here, do we really want to come here to discuss Comparative Economics?

@NRVstrike first dude, get a life. You are averaging 20 posts a day here. Second, this forum is Wild West enough as it is. Go join Occupy Wall Street to get that activist energy out, get laid, puff puff pass pass, and once you've relaxed some then come back.

 

[TargetWrkrsUnite]

People know their rights quite frankly all you are doing is inciting discention without any actual movement. You still have not yet talked about actual plans to change the grand sceme of things all I see in your responses is the pitch fork and torch approach. Which historically yields little long term results.

So how about actual political mogement what are your plans for that? Changing things on a small scale say one store at a time is worthless if you have no actual plans to change the collective leaders positions. Your bid to uprise as it were will leave things worse than they are now. Its not a washed mentality its a proven fact.

Admin maybe we should close this thread I think the op got more than enough info on why hours what they are.

You got to build worker committees in each store and work to coordinate those committees across stores, the same model has to be done in regards to housing as well. Workers are also renters or tenants, and as tenants they have to be organized for their interest against landlords. The point is to struggle on each front to win material gains in the interest of the working class. At a certain point the working class needs it's own political party, and not another electoral party, but a party of a new type that ultimately gains state power and eliminates the class system itself.

 

[TargetWrkrsUnite]

And during the strikes of yore, scabs were usually brought in to do the jobs of striking workers.
Nowadays they use H1B visas.
I've seen nurses, teachers, engineers & other skilled professionals replaced by foreign workers solely to cut wages.
Our current white house occupant vowed to put a stop to such practices but immediately granted visas for foreign workers to staff his resorts.
Push back against corporate America hard enough & they'll do the same for all the entry-level jobs 'that could be done by trained monkeys'.
They've already sent most of the manufacturing jobs overseas; now they want to bring the cheap labor over.
Nothin' personal; just the cost of doin' business.

Yes, but there were consequences for those scabs crossing picket lines, something we have seemed to forget. And rather than pit immigrant workers vs domestic workers they could also unite and show workers won't be divided, there are historical examples of this happening, that's what internationalism is all about.

 

[Timeclockhound]

I've had my hours cut to one or two shifts a week and I've only called out once because I was sick, I have only been late one time because I was stuck in a car accident on the interstate heading to work. Guess this makes me unreliable and undeserving of hours?

I said “some.” Not you. I would suggest cross training. Most people who get the hours are crossed trained in different areas. Swap shift board is a plus especially when students start back. I use to work what I could even if it meant work a double shift.

 

[Timeclockhound]

You got to build worker committees in each store and work to coordinate those committees across stores, the same model has to be done in regards to housing as well. Workers are also renters or tenants, and as tenants they have to be organized for their interest against landlords. The point is to struggle on each front to win material gains in the interest of the working class. At a certain point the working class needs it's own political party, and not another electoral party, but a party of a new type that ultimately gains state power and eliminates the class system itself.

Most people again do not want these workers committees. Many workers I know feel comfortable going to their TL if they have an issue. I don’t want a commitee, who will look out for their own interests speaking for me, when I can and will speak up for myself.

 

[MCay]

Hours always go down in January every year.

Our GM explained it well today.. saying that everyone just spent all their money during the holidays and are only concerned about getting the essentials right now so that is why hours have gone way down. I feel you! I went from 40 hours to next week only getting 19.

 

[TargetWrkrsUnite]

Most people again do not want these workers committees. Many workers I know feel comfortable going to their TL if they have an issue. I don’t want a commitee, who will look out for their own interests speaking for me, when I can and will speak up for myself.

The point is there is more power in a collective than there is as individuals, this is what Target wants, and in general was the strategy by corporations to neutralize collective action and organization of workers, that was the entire purpose of the Human Relations movement. It is not a coincidence that as this happened real wages have stagnated and corporate profits have skyrocketed. It's a means to keep us weak and isolated.

 

[HRLady]

I feel you! I went from 40 hours to next week only getting 19.

Me too. I am getting around 20 or so right now.

 

[LegendaryVKickr]

Is this NRVStrike guy a troll?

 

[atceiah]

Even the crappy workers get hours at my store, please don't encourage them to think they are good workers.

 

[Tessa120]

Me too. I am getting around 20 or so right now.

My hours keep going down. 20 this week, 18 next week. Part of it was my fault, last week I had a medically urgent situation and needed a doctor during work hours so I called out, though I did get a doctor's note for that shift.

I prefer my schedule this week to next week. I'd rather work just a couple of really long shifts than a lot of really short ones.

 

[Times Up]

I mean even the workers who have relative stability and benefits should be pissed about this because less workers in a store means a more labor intensive job for those who do get to work.

Or, more automation.

 

[Anelmi]

TBR is quickly losing its appeal....

 

[HRLady]

I'd rather work just a couple of really long shifts than a lot of really short ones.

Same. I have a long-ish commute to my store so this is better for me gas budget-wise.

 

[TargetWrkrsUnite]

Or, more automation.

Yea but that takes time, it's quicker and easier for the company to cut hours and increase the workload.

 

[IWishIKnew]

They increase hours to keep up with extra demand during the holiday season, then drop hours due to lesser demand during the post-holiday period. This is a reality that has existed in retail for decades. Like teachers who are often paid a year's salary over 9 months, team members can choose to sock away a bit extra during the holiday season when hours are plentiful to keep things going during the post-holiday period, or not. Additional people can make extra cash during that time of largesse. Again, they are free to do with that extra cash what they will, knowing their hire was of a finite term, in many cases.

Is the robber-baron economy we have in this country right now fair or sustainable? No, no it's not, but store committees aren't really going to fix that.

If your store has safety violations or legal violations or even Target policy violations, then yes, absolutely get your TMs together to go to management with those concerns, as groups of TMs are more likely to be listened to than individuals, but there is a systematic problem with how this country views corporations and corporate profits, and untangling that is a much longer-term problem.

 

[HRZone]

What is the point of attacking me and defending Target? I'm not sure what your deal is but I don't see how you blindly defending target helps anyone.

You said that you can't just go get a better job like that. Shouldn't you be thankful to Target that you aren't unemployed. No one owes you a job.

You realize this sort of logic is what pro slavery ideologues used to justify that economic system? "If it wasn't for the slave masters these slaves wouldn't even have housing or food, they should be grateful!

Terrible comparison. Slaves didn't have a choice. You do. You are free not to work or you are free to work for the wages you are offered.

TBR is quickly losing its appeal....

Don't let a troll ruin your appreciation for this site.

 

[TargetWrkrsUnite]

You said that you can't just go get a better job like that. Shouldn't you be thankful to Target that you aren't unemployed. No one owes you a job.



Terrible comparison. Slaves didn't have a choice. You do. You are free not to work or you are free to work for the wages you are offered.


Don't let a troll ruin your appreciation for this site.

If your only means of survival is selling your labor to those who have the capital to purchase it you don't really have a choice, the alternative is starvation. That is not real freedom, it is coercion.

 

[Tessa120]

Look dude, quit ruining the forum. Either temper your rhetoric and find people close to you geographically and follow state and federal laws that lay out how to create or join a union and how to get an employer to accept collective bargaining, or go full steam ahead in acting on your inflammatory rhetoric, contact the mafia, and put together a union Hoffa style. Either way, just stfu.

 

[Tessa120]

Aww, come on. Let him vent a bit. No one complains about your endless tantrums in TTOTM.

Yeah, I have been bitchy lately. My bad.

 

[TargetWrkrsUnite]

Look dude, quit ruining the forum. Either temper your rhetoric and find people close to you geographically and follow state and federal laws that lay out how to create or join a union and how to get an employer to accept collective bargaining, or go full steam ahead in acting on your inflammatory rhetoric, contact the mafia, and put together a union Hoffa style. Either way, just stfu.

I got problems with unions, not looking to join or make one.

 

[Bosch]

And during the strikes of yore, scabs were usually brought in to do the jobs of striking workers.
Nowadays they use H1B visas.
I've seen nurses, teachers, engineers & other skilled professionals replaced by foreign workers solely to cut wages.
Our current white house occupant vowed to put a stop to such practices but immediately granted visas for foreign workers to staff his resorts.
Push back against corporate America hard enough & they'll do the same for all the entry-level jobs 'that could be done by trained monkeys'.
They've already sent most of the manufacturing jobs overseas; now they want to bring the cheap labor over.
Nothin' personal; just the cost of doin' business.

You do know that an H1B has to be paid what employees are paid and their salaries are public record. You want to know what they make, look it up. And do you how much it fucking costs to bring these people over? Thousands upon thousands in legal fees for lawyers. Any profit by paying even bottom of pay scale is long fucking gone after you pay for the visa and lawyers to process it. This one shall we say is very personal.

The golfer in chief uses other types of visas since his workers are not in the tech sector.. Mostly temp non resident/entertainment visas which are easy to get and don't offer the same salary protections.

 

[IWishIKnew]

If your only means of survival is selling your labor to those who have the capital to purchase it you don't really have a choice, the alternative is starvation. That is not real freedom, it is coercion.

You could start your own business.

I, however, am not an entrepreneur, so I offer my services in exchange for pay as humans have done for hundreds of years (let's not bring slavery into this, as there is no comparison to modern employment. None). Yes, the balance has shifted in recent years, to be sure, but to assume that all employed persons are oppressed tools of the Man is, well, kind of precious.

 

[Times Up]

That's the difference between chattel slavery and wage slavery. We nominally have the "freedom" to agree to a contract and be employed, but we also have the "freedom" to starve by not working. It's not really a choice, the dynamic between corporations and workers is inherently a coercive economic relationship. You have to work to live, and the threat of being homeless is a strong compulsion to keep workers in line.

People

If your only means of survival is selling your labor to those who have the capital to purchase it you don't really have a choice, the alternative is starvation. That is not real freedom, it is coercion.

So other than 'the 1%', we are all coerced and lead a pitiful existence.

 

[TargetWrkrsUnite]

You could start your own business.

I, however, am not an entrepreneur, so I offer my services in exchange for pay as humans have done for hundreds of years (let's not bring slavery into this, as there is no comparison to modern employment. None). Yes, the balance has shifted in recent years, to be sure, but to assume that all employed persons are oppressed tools of the Man is, well, kind of precious.

The US economy is part of the world economy, the majority of that labor is superexploited beyond what many of us experience in the US. Our consumer-driven economy perpetuates that. Much of modern labor is slave labor or near slave labor. If you want we can even dissect the degrees of exploitation based on race and gender within the US working class. It's a reality. You're living in a bubble if you don't think the system is predicated on oppression.

 

[IWishIKnew]

Of course it is. So has it has been; so shall it will ever be. I'm just saying a store committee ain't gonna change that, yanno? And people gotta eat. Maybe while they're going through school to be the next brilliant political mind who will shake up The System and start making progress towards a new one. Haranguing people about just trying to get through their lives and feed themselves and/or their family is counterproductive, and a big glaring sign of privilege in itself.