Kmart is taking Thanksgiving as a chance to convey its contempt for its workers. It’s not just that the retail chain is opening stores at 6 AM on Thanksgiving day and staying open through Black Friday. Vying for some kind of bad boss award, Kmart isn’t even telling workers when they’ll have to work, so they don’t know yet when—or whether—they’ll get to spend time with their families:
In a survey of 40 self-identified Kmart employees in 18 states conducted by Coworker.org and shared with ThinkProgress, 95 percent said they still don’t know their schedules for Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday, and 70 percent say their managers haven’t even told them what the store’s hours will be. A company spokesperson said in an email this is not consistent with store protocol, which is to post all schedules, including for holidays, two weeks in advance and to limit any changes.
Last year, Kmart insisted that it tried to staff holiday shifts with volunteers and seasonal workers. It’s saying the same thing this year, with the spokesperson saying, “Our store managers do their very best to honor requests of full-time and part-time associates and staff with volunteers and seasonal staff to work holidays.” But 90 percent of the employees who responded to the survey said their managers hadn’t asked for volunteers yet. Meanwhile, not a single one said that their managers had said anything about being willing to accommodate their scheduling requests, and many said they had to accept whatever they were assigned to.
That’s not a big sample and it’s nothing like a random sample of Kmart workers, but still, it’s workers at stores in 18 states who don't know their schedules, two weeks ahead of one of the major holidays of the year. These workers are definitely not alone in how Kmart is treating them—like their lives and their families don’t matter, like Kmart’s ability to schedule whenever and however it pleases is the most important thing.
But hey, I’m sure the sale prices will be fab.