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

[mystery-ak]

 By James Barrett
March 6, 2019


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.

more
https://www.dailywire.com/news/44342/whole-foods-adopts-15-minimum-wage-then-starts-james-barrett

[catfish1957]

Another excellent example of the laws of unintended consequences.

[catfish1957]

Another excellent example of the laws of unintended consequences.

I just had a thought of something that I can't understand why hasn't been implemented in supermarkets and department stores.

I know a good bit of employee time is lost being interupted by customers asking where an item is. Why don't they place little pc stations at strategic locations  so to allow customers to type in what they are looking for.  I think it would surprise how much that would help efficiency, and reduce manpower needs.  I mean they already have scanners, so this couldn't be hard.

[LMAO]

Another excellent example of the laws of unintended consequences.

 I’m not so sure it’s unintended. We see example after example of what happens with the $15 an hour minimum wage and yet still we have people out there pushing for  it

[Sanguine]

I just had a thought of something that I can't understand why hasn't been implemented in supermarkets and department stores.

I know a good bit of employee time is lost being interupted by customers asking where an item is. Why don't they place little pc stations at strategic locations  so to allow customers to type in what they are looking for.  I think it would surprise how much that would help efficiency, and reduce manpower needs.  I mean they already have scanners, so this couldn't be hard.

Our HEB grocery stores have a phone app that tells you what aisle your item is in.  Very helpful.

So does Home Depot. 

[InHeavenThereIsNoBeer]

I just had a thought of something that I can't understand why hasn't been implemented in supermarkets and department stores.

I know a good bit of employee time is lost being interupted by customers asking where an item is. Why don't they place little pc stations at strategic locations  so to allow customers to type in what they are looking for.  I think it would surprise how much that would help efficiency, and reduce manpower needs.  I mean they already have scanners, so this couldn't be hard.

The aisles are arranged to encourage people to view as many items as possible.  There's a reason they don't put the milk, eggs, beer, bread, bacon, and bacon all in one convenient place.

I suspect they make more off of impulse purchases while customers are wandering around than they lose in the time lost while employees pretend they don't speak English.

[GtHawk]

I’m not so sure it’s unintended. We see example after example of what happens with the $15 an hour minimum wage and yet still we have people out there pushing for  it

The next thing you will hear from left is demands that they not only pay people with no skill levels whatsoever $15 an hour, but that they pay them for a 40 hour week whether they worked one or not......................because it's a right!

[mountaineer]

In related news:

Maryland's new minimum wage is already hurting small business and eliminating jobs
by Patricia Fenati
 | April 18, 2019 12:00 AM

  ...   A business in far Western Maryland, barely making ends meet, has only a few ways to comply with salary increase demanded by the state:

    Increase prices, which, on aggregate, will ultimately cut into workers' paychecks;
    Cut employee hours which means a loss of pay for workers;
    Get by with fewer workers, which means a loss of jobs;
    Move the business to a nearby state, which entails a loss of local jobs; or
    Close the business.

Montgomery County increased the minimum wage before the state did. This year, the minimum hourly wage requirement is $12, and it will be going to $15 by 2024. A friend who has a store in a nearby county told me she has a small staff who work in her shop. Her workers all love what they do and are working to bring extra money into their households. Last summer, before the state passed the law, my friend said if the state minimum wage increases and she has to pay the mandated wage, she would have to close her shop.

The new minimum wage in Montgomery County is already eliminating low-paying jobs. In the small town where I live, we’ve had three fast food restaurants for over 30 years. As the minimum wage increased, two closed this past year. That is probably a loss of 30 or more jobs in our small town.   ...

More at Washington Examiner

[Gefn]

i keep seeing help wanted signs all over, the coffee shops, the convince stores, the supermarkets, the fast food places and gas stations. (To pump gas).

People can’t fill these jobs here. Yet they still keep building stores, like target, Walmart, Costco, and coffee shops, fast food places, and upscale supermarkets like Whole Foods.

Why are they building so much if there is such a surplus of jobs they can’t fill?

So many strip malls look like ghost towns yet they keep building more instead of fixing the old ones.

[EdJames]

In related news:More at Washington Examiner

All of these articles are missing the point...  everyone knows these small business owners are just socking away their "excess" profits into their mattresses or buying gold bullion each week.  All they need to do is be willing to "share" some of those "excess" profits with their poor indentured servants....   

[sneakypete]

The new minimum wage in Montgomery County is already eliminating low-paying jobs. In the small town where I live, we’ve had three fast food restaurants for over 30 years. As the minimum wage increased, two closed this past year. That is probably a loss of 30 or more jobs in our small town.   ...

@mountaineer

The left LOVES that because it means their plans to start a revolution are working. The ultimate goal is to destroy our economy and put enough people out of work to start a communist revolution. Then the state can pay laborers 100 dollars an hour if they want because they will be the ones to determine how much money is worth,and they can set the retail prices on essentials. 

This was what they did in the old USSR.When communism collapsed the Russian government claimed 1 Ruble had the buying power of 1 US dollar,so most people working the factory jobs and living free in government housing thought they were doing well. Then communism collapsed in the USSR,and people who had been depending on their savings to buy nice things for themselves suddenly found out that on the open market it took slightly more than 5,000  Rubles to buy 1 US dollar.

Can you imagine saving money for 30 or more years,and then discovering all the money you had saved wouldn't buy a carton of cigarettes or a new tire for your car?

[truth_seeker]

I just had a thought of something that I can't understand why hasn't been implemented in supermarkets and department stores.

I know a good bit of employee time is lost being interupted by customers asking where an item is. [/quote

Put a device on the shopping cart, possible voice enables, to service requests to locagte items.

Aldi markets charge a quarter to use the carts, refundabe when the cartis returned.

Why not WF/Amazon mount location helper devices on their carts, charge a small deposit, etc?

"Alexa, wherei is the milk?