A group of Victoria’s Secret employees won the on-going fight for higher pay and better hours.
According to CNN , Debbra Alexis was getting tired of her low pay, her unregulated hours, and her lack of advancement opportunity.
“We needed more pay, consistent hours and the chance to advance, and we were just really fed up,” said Alexis, who was making $9.93 an hour.
CNN reported that Alexis’ hours ranged from 10 to 30 hours per week, and both her and her coworkers were consistently passed over for promotion while outsiders were hired for management positions.
In June, Alexis and three other more-experienced Victoria’s Secret workers presented their manager with a demand letter.
The report continues on to say that, when their letter went without response, the workers enlisted the help of the Retail Action Project, a group that works to improve conditions for retail workers.
They started a campaign to get other workers to sign onto a petition that they would present to management.
As the campaign started really picking up steam, Alexis said management fired back by cutting employee hours, moving them to different departments, and even having employees work alone in the stock room.
Relief soon came as management made an announcement saying that the store would be issuing across the board raises.
The Huffington Post reported that employees got raises of between $1 and $2 an hour .
“The company said the raises came as a result of this employee satisfaction survey that they gave every year, but I’d taken it many times and we’d never seen any kind of outcome from it,” said Alexis. “The raises had to be because of the campaign.”
Terasia Bradford, Retail Action’s lead organizer with the workers, said the Victoria’s Secret campaign had been effective because the workers were asking for reasonable changes and the demands were being made by employees who had worked at their store for a long time.
“The company saw the workers as people who were invested in the brand and so they took them seriously,” she said. “Victoria’s Secret is invested in its image and so it should be invested in its employees, as well.”
CNN reported that despite the victory, Alexis has since left Victoria’s Secret for a full-time job at a nonprofit that helps people get access to health insurance. But she said she knows the changes made a difference.
“Everything worked out,” she said. “People are much happier to come to work.”
After seeing the Victoria’s Secret raises, other companies such as Wal-Mart and fast food chains are sure to up their efforts in bettering the lives of low-wages workers.
[photo credit: Steve Rhodes via photopin cc ]
