Target raised wages. Then it cut workers' hours and doubled their workload'
Workers say Target is making drastic cuts to their schedules and doubling their workload as it increases minimum wage under its ‘modernization plan’ to increase efficiency
Target Workers Unite recently released a survey of more than 500 Target workers around the US, representing 382 different stores in 44 states.
Only 12.7% of the workers who responded said they could survive on the wages from Target alone, with 56% of workers citing they have ran out of food while employed at Target, and 12.8% of workers reported experiencing homelessness.
As Target workers report struggling to make ends meet while experiencing cuts to their schedules, loss of benefits, and increased workloads, Target reported record share prices at the end of 2019.
The retail chain is ranked the eighth-largest retail corporation in the US based on sales.
In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Bonnie Furlong has worked as a cashier at Target for about seven years, but still makes what starting workers make, $13 an hour.
“The last time they raised it, they cut our hours, so I’m basically making less than I was before they raised it to $13 an hour,” said Furlong. Her hours were reduced from 32 to 38 hours per week to around 20 hours per week. “If I wasn’t getting social security, which isn’t very much either, I wouldn’t be able to work there because I couldn’t afford it.”
Matt Funnell, a Target employee in Massachusetts since August 2018, saw his weekly schedule change from full-time, over 30 hours a week, to less than 10 hours in January 2020.
“My biweekly paycheck doesn’t even pay rent. Co-workers of mine are losing health insurance and other benefits,” he said. “My higher-ups still expect us to get the same amount of work done in a fraction of the time.”
Marie Biggs of Dallas, Texas, quit her job at Target in July 2019 after 14 years due to the scheduling cuts and increased workloads.
“I was full-time, 40 hours a week as a receive. My hours were cut down to 27 hours a week in 2019,” Biggs said. “I planned on retiring from Target. They more than doubled my workload, cut my hours.
I lost my benefits after averaging less than 30 hours a week and they didn’t seem to care. I couldn’t live on it.”
Several current Target employees interviewed for this story were reluctant to speak on the record for fear of retaliation.
A Target employee in Florida for six years also reported drastic cuts to their schedule.
“This year I am losing my health benefits in March because of cut hours and I recently found out I am pregnant so I’m stressed out about it all. I am given eight hours of work to do in a four-and-a-half-hour shift and expected to get it all done,” they said. “I went from 40 hours a week to 15 hours in January 2020.”
In Houston, Texas, a Target employee told the Guardian the modernization plan has significantly increased workloads that aren’t feasible to complete in the time they’re scheduled.
“I can’t get anything done in 12 hours. I can’t pay rent either. They’re trying to minimize the workforce but maximize what gets done, and it’s causing issues,” they said.
`“I have two jobs to make ends meet on top of college. I don’t really do anything other than work any more, but they keep us dangling on a string.”
Target disputed the workers’ survey’s finding and claims from workers over working conditions and schedule cuts.
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