Hundreds rally in Minneapolis for better working conditions

More than 300 people rallied in front of City Hall on Wednesday to call on city leaders to pass a workers' agenda.

The demonstration coincided with the release of a report that highlights the struggles of some workers with low wages and difficult scheduling.

The report by Neighborhoods Organizing for Change was based on surveys of more than 500 north Minneapolis residents. Of the survey's respondents, 47 percent reported working in retail or food service jobs. Three fourths of people who included their racial or ethnic identity are African-American.

Many workers who responded to the survey complained of having unpredictable schedules, said Anthony Newby, the group's executive director.

"Sixty-eight percent reported that their schedules changed from week to week," Newby said. "That means one week you show up and you work 30 hours and the next week you work 15."

The Minneapolis City Council is considering a number of regulations that would protect workers, including one that would require employers to give workers a chance to earn paid sick time.

Neighborhood Organizing for Change wants the city to prohibit employers from scheduling people to work late at night and then early the next morning.

That's particularly hard for people with second jobs, who go to school or need child care, Newby said.

Jessica Allen, one of the workers featured in the report, said an unpredictable schedule made it hard for her to arrange care for her diabetic daughter. Allen said she was an assistant manager at Villa shoe store on West Broadway Avenue and regularly worked 50 hour weeks, but was only paid for 40 hours.

At first, Allen said, her schedule was steady and her daughter was able to stay with a licensed day care provider during the day. But that changed when the company started scheduling her for more night shifts, she said.

"I had to start finding babysitters for her at night because I had to start closing," Allen said. "So now, there's no licensed person to take care of her. She's with babysitters, my little cousins — who are old enough — but they're not skilled. They don't know how to give her her insulin."

Allen said her daughter's condition deteriorated until one day she wound up in the emergency room in a diabetic coma. Allen said when she did not report for work in the morning in order to rush her daughter to the hospital, managers told her she would be disciplined.

Allen said she quit because managers refused to return her to her previous schedule.

An employee at the shoe store referred a request for comment to a Villa district manager, who did not return a call for comment.

"These are people trying to go to school, raise their families and navigate a life and have a general quality of life," Newby said. "These are people who are showing up to work on Monday, not having any idea often what their schedules are going to be like for the week. And that ain't right."

The Neighborhoods Organizing for Change report also recommends that employers be required to pay workers a minimum wage of $15 an hour.

Mayor Betsy Hodges has said she supports a minimum wage increase at the regional, state and federal level, but not for the city alone. However, the City Council is considering proposals that would protect workers from difficult work arrangements in its Working Families Agenda.