| COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A lawmaker in Ohio wants stores in the state to pay triple wages for employees who work on Thanksgiving — an effort that comes as Macy's, the holiday's quintessential retailer, is allowing its workers to choose whether to work that day. Both are attempts to counter frustration among workers and their families over holiday store hours that have expanded into the holiday. State Rep. Mike Foley, a Democrat from Cleveland, said his bill would allow employees to bow out of the holiday shift without job sanctions while protecting family time from excessive consumerism. It comes after a federal complaint filed earlier this year accused Wal-Mart of illegally firing, disciplining or threatening more than 60 employees in 14 states for participating in protests over wages and working conditions. Worker organizations — especially the AFL-CIO labor coalition — have organized additional pickets around holiday staffing this year, alongside social media campaigns publicizing workers' personal accounts. They're pushing shopper boycotts on Black Friday — the day after Thanksgiving — and on the holiday itself, which is sometimes referred to as Gray Thursday. Foley said the idea for his bill came from a call last year from a Cincinnati woman who said both she and her 82-year-old mother had been scheduled to work their retail jobs on Thanksgiving. "I was offended by it," he said. "Can't there be one day that's carved out of... |
