The Call for Fair Scheduling Policies and Full Time Work at Walmart

Since its founding in 2010,

the Organization United for
Respect at Walmart (OUR
Walmart) has put access to
regular, full-time hours for
those who want them at the
top of our agenda.
Some of the related issues
that workers have faced
include:

Lack of full-time hours: Workers have consistently pushed for more access
to full-time hours. The company recently disclosed that half of all workers at
Walmart work part-time.i Full-time status workers also say they want a full
schedule; the Walmart defined 34 hours a week are not enough.

Industry-wide, part-time hours are often involuntary: The rate of

involuntary part-time workers (moms and dads working part-time while
wanting full-time hours) is nearly double for adult retail workers than for all
adult workers overall.ii Womeniii, African-Americans and Latinos,iv are
disproportionately likely to be employed part-time and to be involuntarily
part-time.

Part-time workers are paid less hourly: According to Walmarts own

disclosures, part-time workers make a full $3/hour less than full-time
workers.v

Irregular Schedules: Walmart worker schedules often vary widely from

week to week, making it very difficult for workers to arrange childcare or
attend school.

Walmarts lack of predictable scheduling and need for them to maintain

maximum availability to be scheduled for enough hours makes it very
difficult for workers to have a second job.

Walmart US - Average Employees/Store 2005-2015

351 337 338 343
329 325 321 317

284 293 274

Overall
reductions in hours: OUR Walmart members have also been routinely
sounding the alarm about overall reductions in hours vi across the company
and investment analysts have echoed concerns regarding shortstaffing. vii
Since 2005, the total number of Walmart stores in the US has increased by
nearly 40%, while the total number of US workers has increased by just 7%. viii
The average number of US employees by store has fallen from 351 to 274, a
22% decline. This trend is even more dramatic when you consider that,
although the company did add more than 500 smaller format stores during
this period (which have fewer workers), the company also added nearly 1,700
Supercenters, the companys largest format stores. As a result, the number
of US employees/square foot has actually decreased at an even higher rate
(28%) than the per store decline.ix
Last year, many OUR Walmart members OSHA logs from their stores and, in
many cases, the logs show a similar level of staffing declines. For example,
at Walmart #5154 in Rosemead, California, between 2009 and 2013 (most
recent available) the average annual number of employees dropped from 490
to 405, a decline of more than 17%. Even more striking, the total annual
hours worked declined by 23%. At the same time, at Walmart #5334 in
Aurora, CO, between 2009 and 2014, the average annual number of
employees went from 458 to 390, a decrease of 15%. The total number of
hours fell by a similar amount.

Walmart US: Average employees/10k SqFt

24.5
22.9

22.4 22.3
21.2

20.7

20.1

19.7
17.7

18.5

17.7

Increased Use of Temporary Workers: In 2013, Reuters reported that Walmart

had as many as 130,000 temporary workers, up dramatically from 2012. x Reports
from workers suggest that these employees have even fewer protections and even
more irregular hours than traditional employees.
Reduced healthcare coverage for part-time workers: In recent years, Walmart
has steadily eroded coverage for part-time workers. In 2012, the company
introduced a minimum hours requirement for health coverage and eliminated
spousal coverage for part-time workers. In 2013, the company increased the
required number of hours that newly hired part-time workers to receive coverage to
30 hours/week. In 2015, Walmart workers eliminated coverage for all workers who
averaged less than 30/hours week.xi
Below is a brief history of some of the key moments of OUR Walmarts
push for fair scheduling practices at Walmart.
June, 2011: OUR Walmart leaders from across the nation gather in Bentonville, AR
to create the Declaration of Respect. The Declaration included this call:
Our schedules are often irregular and inflexible making it difficult to care for
our families. Walmart should publicly commit to making scheduling more
predictable and dependable.xii
The Declaration also highlighted the ways in which the company has historically
limited hours to limit access to benefits:
Too many of us are unable to access Walmarts health care because it is too
expensive or we lack the hours to qualify.
October, 2011: OUR Walmart members hold a meeting for investment analysts
and highlight problems with staffing, wages, hours and scheduling.

June 2012: USA Today profiles OUR Walmart, which emphasizes that some
workers say the company's work-scheduling system limits their hours below what
they need to qualify for benefits and produces such widely varying schedules that
it's difficult to take a second job to make ends meet.
October-November 2012: First ever Walmart strikes in the US and Black Friday
demonstrations across the United States. Workers went on strike in order to
protect their right to speak out on key issues like Fair scheduling. Full-time hours
are key among the issues highlighted.
Jan. 2013 - Walmart US CEO Bill Simon
responds to OUR Walmart by announcing that
the company will provide "more transparency to
our scheduling system" so workers can request
and sign up for more hours.xiii He said, in part:
As part of that effort, well make sure part-time
associates have full visibility into full time job
openings in their stores and nearby stores and
that they always have the first shot at those
jobs. We will also bring more transparency to
our scheduling system so part-time workers can
choose more hours for themselves.
Feb. 2013 OUR Walmart sends letter to CEO Duke and US CEO Simon to follow-up
on commitments on scheduling and hours and to push for more specific
commitments.
April 2013 OUR Walmart and supporters hold national day of action for fair
scheduling.
April 24, 2013 Walmart press release announcing piloting of new program to bring
more transparency and consistent information on available shifts. xiv
May 2013 As OUR Walmart members followed the historic path of the freedom
riders from their home stores to the annual shareholder meeting in Bentonville, AR,
a Walmart spokesperson confirms its reaction to OUR Walmart in an interview with a
Bloomberg reporter, stating instituted a new policy on Memorial Day: now parttime workers get first dibs on full-time positions that open up in any store. xv
November 2013: Largest Black Friday protests to date. Again, workers went on
strike to protect their right to speak out for $25,000 minimum pay, consistent
scheduling and full-time hours.
January 2014 - One full year after the Simon announcement Walmart had only
rolled out scheduling system in a few stores. OUR Walmart members hold store
actions in California and Florida, calling for $15 and full time hours.
April 2014 - Walmart rolls out new open shift scheduling allowing part-timers to
pick up open shifts in stores. Although the program has led to improvements in

some stores, OUR Walmart members in many stores report that the program has
not been introduced.
September 2014 - OUR Walmart members launch petition for $15 and full time,
consistent hours.xvi Walmart workers in over 2500 stores sign on to petition.
August 2014:- OUR Walmart members at a store in Dallas, TX march on the
manager calling for an increase in full time associates. More than 15 associates get
full time hours.xvii
November 2014: Largest Black Friday demonstrations ever include call for $15 an
hour and full-time.
February 2015 As part of announced wage increases, Walmart announces a plan
to offer fixed schedules to some workers, while many still question the impact of a
wage increase with limited hours. The New York Times confirms the issue under
the headline: Next Goal for Walmart Workers: More Hours.
OUR Walmart member Anthony Rodriguez tells the Times, I work as hard as I can,
and when they offer me hours, I stay, he said. But when the time comes, and I
beg them for hours because Im not going to afford rent, they dont want to help
me.

Legal Disclaimer: Organization United for Respect at Walmart is a D.C. unincorporated

non-profit association popularly known as OUR Walmart that promotes the betterment
of working conditions for Walmart associates and better corporate citizenship by
Walmart. OUR Walmart has no intent to have Walmart recognize or bargain with OUR
Walmart as the representative of its employees.

i http://cdn.corporate.walmart.com/b5/c2/51e31e624ebcbebce63bff7a4ff9/walmartsfiscal-year-2015-q4-earnings-results-media-call-transcript.pdf
ii 9 percent of adult retail workers involuntarily worked part time in 2014, compared with
just 5 percent of all working adults. http://www.raisetheminimumwage.com/blog/entry/alook-at-involuntary-part-time-work-in-retail/
iii http://www.demos.org/publication/making-retail-jobs-good-jobs-women
iv http://www.demos.org/publication/retail-race-divide-how-retail-industry-perpetuatingracial-inequality-21st-century
v http://cdn.corporate.walmart.com/a1/0e/6fec066e4cf48b9ec4b9f09bcd67/associateopportunity-fact-sheet.2.pdf
vi http://makingchangeatwalmart.org/2013/04/24/day-of-action-on-scheduling-and-hours/
vii http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/12/business/walmart-memo-orders-stores-toimprove-grocery-performance.html?_r=1
viii Employee and store numbers are from Walmart Stores 10-K reports 2005-2015. US
totals exclude Puerto Rico (because in the earlier years of this analysis, Walmart counted
Puerto Rico in the companys International division).
ix For the estimated square feet, we used the average square foot numbers by store type
provided in the 2005 10k: Discount Stores: 100,000, Supercenters: 187,000,
Neighborhood Markets: 43,000, Sams Club: 128,000
x http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/13/us-walmart-hires-tempsidUSBRE95C05820130613
xi http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-10-07/wal-mart-will-cut-health-benefitsto-some-part-time-employees
xii http://www.united4respect.org/declaration_for_respect
xiii http://news.walmart.com/executive-viewpoints/a-job-to-do-retails-role-in-an-americanrenewal
xiv http://news.walmart.com/news-archive/2013/04/24/walmart-fulfilling-promise-toassociates-by-providing-more-scheduling-visibility
xv http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-05-28/walmart-workers-plan-another-protest-thistime-in-bentonville

xvi https://www.facebook.com/OURWMT/photos/pb.166258660053454.2207520000.1440387515./861695233843123/?type=3&theater
xvii https://www.facebook.com/OURWMT/photos/pb.166258660053454.2207520000.1440387519./853187561360557/?type=3&theater