Whole Foods Adopts $15 Minimum Wage, Then Starts Slashing Workers' Hours 'Significantly'

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By James Barrett - The Daily Wire


https://i.imgur.com/I7h0Vhgl.jpg

The dream of the $15 minimum wage was finally realized among Amazon employees after the company caved to mounting pressure and implemented it company-wide on Nov. 1. But according to a new report, the improved wages aren't working out as many employees had hoped at Amazon's Whole Foods grocery store chain.

The Guardian reported Wednesday that employees at Whole Foods, which Amazon purchased back in 2017, have experienced a dramatic drop in schedule shifts since the raised wages were introduced.

Along with the new $15 minimum wage for the entry-level positions, some higher-level Whole Foods employees have also enjoyed a $1 to $2 increase in hourly wages, the outlet notes. It all sounds good — until employees' schedules are taken into account. Since the wage increase in November, Whole Foods employees say they've experienced "widespread cuts that have reduced schedule shifts across many stores, often negating wage gains for employees," The Guardian reports.

The employees, speaking on condition of anonymity "for fear of retaliation," revealed to the outlet that they've seen an average of about a 30% reduction in hours per week for part-timers and about a 10% reduction for full-timers.

An Illinois-based worker told The Guardian, "My hours went from 30 to 20 a week," after the $15 minimum wage hike.

The employee "explained that once the $15 minimum wage was enacted, part-time employee hours at their store were cut from an average of 30 to 21 hours a week, and full-time employees saw average hours reduced from 37.5 hours to 34.5 hours," The Guardian reports. "The worker provided schedules from 1 November to the end of January 2019, showing hours for workers in their department significantly decreased as the department’s percentage of the entire store labor budget stayed relatively the same."

The employee says the company expects workers to accomplish their goals faster so their hours can be cut to balance the cost of the wage increases. The employee provided the outlet an internal email from a department manager saying the slashed shifts were a "direct result of guidance from our regional team."

And it's not just in Illinois. A Maryland-based employee told the paper their regional manager has ordered that all full-time employees suffer a four-hour reduction per week to 36 hours, making the raise "pointless" because people are actually "losing more than they gained" as a result of fewer hours worked. An Oregon-based Whole Foods employee cited a similar policy of reducing full-timers from 40 to just 36 or 38 hours per week.

The Guardian says the hours-reductions at Whole Foods fits the larger pattern of what's happening at Amazon warehouses.

As The Daily Wire pointed out on Wednesday, a new Employment Policies Institute survey of 197 working economists found that 74% oppose raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. Eighty-four percent think it would hurt youth employment, and 77% believe it would have a negative impact on the number of jobs available. Forty-three percent of the economists surveyed think the federal minimum wage should be eliminated altogether.

[Goofy]

So, same pay for less work? :cheers:

[RBP]

So, same pay for less work? :cheers:

Same work demanded to be completed in less hours.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

I can't believe it is beyond the grasp of allegedly smart people that some jobs aren't worth paying someone $15/hour to do. These minimum wage jobs were NEVER meant to support a family on. And they sure as hell weren't meant for people to live on in some of the most expensive places in the US (NYC, Boston, San Francisco, etc). If you went through your 12 years of FREE school and couldn't figure out some kind of marketable skill that would be worth something to an employer, then that's on you, not society, and we don't 'owe' you anything.

[Muddy]

Lance.. These jobs cant all be run by high school kids.. Not every retail business is slinging a burger down at the retard barn... $15 an hour is equivalent to min wage these days because of inflation..

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Lance.. These jobs cant all be run by high school kids.. Not every retail business is slinging a burger down at the retard barn... $15 an hour is equivalent to min wage these days because of inflation..

Well then, in Colorado, state minimum wage is $11.10/hour. So if these people are getting a raise to $15/hour, you know, because of inflation, then using the same math, I should be due a raise of around $10/hour, you know, because of inflation. That way I can afford the soon to be $14.00 Quarter Pounder with Cheese that these valued members of society can't even make correctly half the time. :tup:

[Muddy]

Well then, in Colorado, state minimum wage is $11.10/hour. So if these people are getting a raise to $15/hour, you know, because of inflation, then using the same math, I should be due a raise of around $10/hour, you know, because of inflation.

You would think that would be the case.. Inflation and cost of goods keeps going up, but our compensation sure seems to have stalled... The price of those Quarter Pounder with cheese meals has definitely doubled over the last 10 years.. You been to Arbys lately? That's a freaking $12.00 meal...

[Teh One Who Knocks]

You would think that would be the case.. Inflation and cost of goods keeps going up, but our compensation sure seems to have stalled... The price of those Quarter Pounder with cheese meals has definitely doubled over the last 10 years.. You been to Arbys lately? That's a freaking $12.00 meal...

Arby's and Wendy's are the worst around here for fast foot when it comes to prices. And a local fast food burger chain Good Times is the same. It's ridiculous and only getting worse.

[Muddy]

Arby's and Wendy's are the worst around here for fast foot when it comes to prices. And a local fast food burger chain Good Times is the same. It's ridiculous and only getting worse.

God damn dinner for 4 at '5 guys burgers and fries' is like $35.00

[Teh One Who Knocks]

God damn dinner for 4 at '5 guys burgers and fries' is like $35.00

Yeah, going to someplace like Five Guys is a special trip out now, like going for steak FFS. :lol:

[Hal-9000]

Unpopular but I lived in the hourly world and a person just can't make it on 10 or 15 or even 20 bucks an hour.

I'm not agreeing with all unskilled labor making top dollar, but inflation never goes backwards. Until food/rent/fuel/? becomes in line with low to medium wage groups, these rates have to be raised.

Get ready...they're talking about a type of living wages being given to workers when robots start removing humans. That means Frank pushing the button to start up the automated component will want to be accommodated while the automation actually does the work.

We have a real credit problem in our province because the cost of living is so high, people in dual income families can't cope with the yearly dept after buying a house and car.

Again, the burger flippers should never get close to someone like you Lance working a long term, technical job. But the governments do need to understand when the bank interest rates and inflation climb, everything from bread to rent goes up. We're in a depressed housing market where people can't afford to sell their homes, yet apartment rent is through the roof. It's creating a new wave of homeless people who work full time.

[lost in melb.]

Unpopular but I lived in the hourly world and a person just can't make it on 10 or 15 or even 20 bucks an hour.

I'm not agreeing with all unskilled labor making top dollar, but inflation never goes backwards. Until food/rent/fuel/? becomes in line with low to medium wage groups, these rates have to be raised.

Get ready...they're talking about a type of living wages being given to workers when robots start removing humans. That means Frank pushing the button to start up the automated component will want to be accommodated while the automation actually does the work.

We have a real credit problem in our province because the cost of living is so high, people in dual income families can't cope with the yearly dept after buying a house and car.

Again, the burger flippers should never get close to someone like you Lance working a long term, technical job. But the governments do need to understand when the bank interest rates and inflation climb, everything from bread to rent goes up. We're in a depressed housing market where people can't afford to sell their homes, yet apartment rent is through the roof. It's creating a new wave of homeless people who work full time.

The short-term answer is the either boost wages by making the employer pay - or the rich through taxes via government.

The long-term answer to automation is an even more difficult existential crisis.

[lost in melb.]

an average of about a 30% reduction in hours per week for part-timers and about a 10% reduction for full-timers.

Some free time omg! :freakout:

What to do? More screen time? Or...get fit and healthy, relax a bit, plant a veggie garden, do some community service?...or if left wanting get another job?...research investment? take 2 seconds to ponder the meaning of your life?

[DemonGeminiX]

Arby's and Wendy's are the worst around here for fast foot

:-s

They're serving feet at Denver's fast food places now?

[RBP]

Some free time omg! :freakout:

What to do? More screen time? Or...get fit and healthy, relax a bit, plant a veggie garden, do some community service?...or if left wanting get another job?...research investment? take 2 seconds to ponder the meaning of your life?

Huh? If the point was providing a "living wage" and hour reduction put net income back to pre-living-wage levels, they've done nothing but press releases. The front line workers wanted more money not more free time. It's like executives befuddled with low 401(k) [pretax savings plans] participation. It's free money!! Yes, well, that's true. It will pay big dividends in 40 years. There's only one problem. Rent isn't due in 40 years.

[lost in melb.]

Huh? If the point was providing a "living wage" and hour reduction put net income back to pre-living-wage levels, they've done nothing but press releases. The front line workers wanted more money not more free time. It's like executives befuddled with low 401(k) [pretax savings plans] participation. It's free money!! Yes, well, that's true. It will pay big dividends in 40 years. There's only one problem. Rent isn't due in 40 years.

Yes, well...first of all we don't know what the sub 15ners were earning- thus what the end net outcome was. You - or the 'complainant(s)' are not factoring in the the other advantages of the extra time. Finally, we don't know what proportion of workers are left feeling bereft.

[RBP]

Yes, well...first of all we don't know what the sub 15ners were earning- thus what the end net outcome was. You - or the 'complainant(s)' are not factoring in the the other advantages of the extra time. Finally, we don't know what proportion of workers are left feeling bereft.


Since the wage increase in November, Whole Foods employees say they've experienced "widespread cuts that have reduced schedule shifts across many stores, often negating wage gains for employees," The Guardian reports.

What the story ignores, because reporters are dolts, is how the company handles budgets, bonus structures, and earnings expectations based on across the board wage hikes. If the store, region, and business unit budgets aren't changed, and in particular, the bonus structures of management, the wage hikes will be eliminated with cost reductions. Managers are not going to take a cut in pay to pay the stock boy more, and Amazon is not going to adjust earnings expectations. Wall Street couldn't give a shit about $15 an hour.

This is not an altruistic company. Their 4th quarter growth numbers fell by 2% (I believe) and they threw thousands of vendors to the wolves with no notice. They basically said "we're not ordering from you any more, but feel free to sell directly using our expensive fulfillment system".

The story isn't about quality of life. And for low wage earners, free time means more time to worry about how to pay bills. But if you want to imagine a happy song playing while smiling people run through fields in slow motion with puppy dogs jumping at their side, feel free. Whatever makes it a better day for you.

[lost in melb.]

What the story ignores..

This is not an altruistic company. Their 4th quarter growth numbers fell by 2% (I believe) and they threw thousands of vendors to the wolves with no notice. They basically said "we're not ordering from you any more, but feel free to sell directly using our expensive fulfillment system".

The story isn't about quality of life.

Ok, fine, it's a story about a shitty big company - unlike the other altruistic ones out there. Let's continue to leave it to the free market - we know how well that is working for the middle class and below.

http://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/FT_18.07.26_hourlyWage_increases.png


And for low wage earners, free time means more time to worry about how to pay bills. But if you want to imagine a happy song playing while smiling people run through fields in slow motion with puppy dogs jumping at their side, feel free. Whatever makes it a better day for you.

That's cynical, even by your standards. Wow.

I'd actually be happy if they were able to meet their living expenses without being worked to the bone ( being human last time I checked).