DECEMBER 10, 2014
JAGWIRE - OPINION THE PROWL 11
The corporate employee’s
not
so
jolly
holiday
Harsh corporate policies force student
employees to work family-oriented holidays... or
else, risk losing their jobs by Laura Salgado
I
hate how commercialized the
Costco, on the other hand, took
holidays have become. No,
the moral high ground and gave
it’s not because I have some
their employees the day off. Radio
aversion to shopping or giftShack, which gave its employees
giving. I object to the phenomenon
Thanksgiving off last year for a
known as “Christmas Creep.” This
“well-deserved” break essentially
refers to how stores push their
flipped off its workers this year and
opening times earlier and earlier to
dragged them into work at 8 AM.
outdo their competitors. K-Mart, for
Other stores that opened
instance, opened its doors at 6 AM
on Thanksgiving claimed that
Thanksgiving Day. Macy’s, Kohl’s,
they would be staffed solely by
and Target, among others, opened
volunteers or that workers would
around dinner time on Turkey Day.
be paid bonuses for cutting their
Black Friday has begun to bleed
dinners short. However, one K-Mart
into Thanksgiving Thursday.
employee told Think Progress
One of the
that workers were
reasons I object
It only takes a couple threatened with
to Black Friday
termination if
hundred deeply
altogether is
they asked for
discounted plasma Thanksgiving off.
how dangerous
it is. Since 2006
screens for people This begs the
there have been
to lose all humanity following question:
90 injuries and
given the moral
and hurt each other implications and the
7 deaths related
in pursuit of the best dangers of opening
to it. In 2008 a
worker at a Long
on Thanksgiving,
deals.
Island Walmart
why do stores still
died after being trampled by eager
do it?
customers. In 2011 Target shoppers
The blame falls on consumers
trampled a man to death after he
who patron these stores. The lower
collapsed. Last year a teenager
they advertise their prices to be,
returning home from shopping
the more people will want to shop
fell asleep at the wheel and died
there, and the more money they
in a car accident. It only takes a
will make.
couple hundred deeply discounted
By buying from these retailers
plasma screens for people to lose
customers are essentially saying
all humanity and hurt each other in
that they don’t care how stores
pursuit of the best deals.
keep their prices down or how they
But this holiday season the
staff their stores. The problem is
spotlight has mainly been on the
most customers don’t think about
stores that encourage this barbaric
these things; they just care about
behavior. Target, Walmart, Macy’s,
the number at the bottom of the
Best Buy, and others proudly
receipt.
opened their doors on Thanksgiving
Unfortunately, this trend
Day promising doorbuster deals
lasts long after the holiday season
right after dinner. Stores like
ends. Take Walmart for instance.
Neiman Marcus, GameStop, and
The largest employer in the United
States, Walmart grossed
about 116.67 billion
dollars in 2013. In
2013, Walmart’s
low-wage employees
took out 6.2 billion
dollars in public
assistance. This is
unconscionable.
The nation’s
consumers are
divided between
want of lower prices
and want of morally
responsible retailers.
These are correlated:
as wages and benefits
for workers increase,
so do prices. However,
studies show that if workers
earn more and have more benefits,
then they’ll be healthier and
happier, which means they’ll be
more productive at work. Higher
productivity means higher profits.
While these are nice thoughts,
nothing will change for low-wage
employees unless consumers
change their buying habits. If
you think workers deserve the
holidays off, then stop shopping
at stores that stay open on the
holidays.
Understand that your
actions can either reinforce
negative behavior or effect
positive change. If you
choose the former, think
about the Walmart cashier
working for minimum
wage who doesn’t even
know where his next
meal will come from,
let alone what kind of
presents will be under
his Christmas tree.
BIGGEST OFFENDERS
Walmart, Staples, Toys R Us and Sports Authority
are among the big-box corporations that forced
employees to work Thanksgiving Day.
K-Mart opened at
6 am
Thanksgiving Day...
before employees had a
chance to enjoy their
Thanksgiving
breakfasts.
10%
of students
worked on
Thanksgiving
180 students polled
poll conducted by Rachel Lenna
Illustrations by Kayleigh Fine
Doing it right
Shop at these companies with fair holiday hours and better business practices
Thanksgiving, Black Friday In-store
sales generated a total of
$12.3 billion in 2013
Source: TheBlackFriday.com, CNN Money