As a new year dawns and guilty memories of frenzied holiday shopping recede, North Carolina voters should resolve to improve the lot of the state’s retail employees.
Following the lead of San Francisco, they should demand the passage of a Retail Bill of Rights to support the employees of large chain stores.
On Nov. 25, San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors approved legislation designed to afford retail employees the same protections offered to workers in many other industries. Some of its provisions, such as mandating that large retailers — those with twenty or more branches globally and twenty or more employees in San Francisco — offer more hours to current employees before hiring new ones on a part-time basis, are controversial. Others are not.
For instance, the bill encourages employers to provide regular hours to their employees by stipulating that “workers will receive one hour of pay at their regular rate of pay for schedule changes made with less than a week’s notice and two to four hours of pay for schedule changes made with less than 24 hours’ notice.”
At a time when federal efforts to increase the minimum wage appear quixotic, such local and regional efforts can make life easier for low-wage workers. Even if voters only force big retailers to provide employees with work schedules two weeks in advance, they will have done important work. This will make it easier for employees to take second jobs, further their educations, spend time with their children or to enjoy acts of daily life that are facilitated by reliably scheduled work.
