Because of their labour practices, I don't shop at Wal-Mart, although their prices are probably the lowest. They currently have a class action wage/gender discrimination suit pending against them in the U. S and are strongly anti-union. This has made me think about practices at other stores at which I shop.
I do my grocery shopping at Save-On-Foods, which is convenient, customer-oriented, and unionized. However, the work tends to be organized by gender. The cashiers are almost all female, as are the price checkers; the produce, packaged products, and frozen food/dairy/bread clerks are male; managers and assistant managers are male. Only the bakery and meat departments seem equally divided.
Some of the work, such as stocking canned goods, may involve a bit more strength. Boxes of produce are heavy, but usually they are put on carts and rolled around. The division seems to be cultural.
Many of the cashiers are either part-time or have very flexible hours. I suspect the first, which would keep Save-On from paying benefits. Some of the cashiers during the week are full-time. The busiest time is on the weekends, but very few of the weekend staff work during the week, and must be all part-time.
I'd be curious to know the difference in rates between the cashiers and stock clerks. The cashiers should be paid more, because they have to handle customers (some can be rude), process cash, recognize all products, learn new prices, bag groceries, load carts, and, of course, keep moving. Those who find this too stressing don't last. Stocking shelves is far more relaxed.
I asked Tyler, who bags groceries when the lines start to get long, why they didn't let him cashier. He said it was because of the classification. I've occasionally seen young women being trained as cashiers. It takes a few days to become knowledgeable and comfortable with the customers. There is a customer-friendly patter that they are expected to follow: "How are you, today?"; "Did you find everything?"; "Have a nice day." It seems like men could master this as well as women.
Whether the practices are economic (reduced wages and benefits for part-timers); or cultural (women's work; men's work); or both, I'm not sure. It seems that there are still a lot of gender barriers to break down.
Can't you just write to Save-On and see what is going on? It would be an interesting follow-up.
ReplyDeleteI never shopped at Wal-Mart because I didn't care how they kept many of their workers on part-time status' to avoid paying extra benefits. I've mentioned it before; Wal-Mart has destroyed many of the downtowns of small-town America. The people who shop at this store, which is normally located a bit out of town, have forgotten they have city centers, which are full of history, interesting architecture and small business owners.
From the ages and genders of the staff, I suspect that the stock clerks are higher paid than the cashiers at Save-On. It's not necessarily the amount of effort or quantity of work that determines wages; more likely, it's the amount of supervision and independent decision-making (although this is frequently illusory).
ReplyDeleteOn a similar note, I notice that CNN has attractive young women providing the morning news, but the men take over hosting their own shows later in the day. I wonder why this is?
Cultural? Sexist? Ratings?
"On a similar note, I notice that CNN has attractive young women providing the morning news, but the men take over hosting their own shows later in the day. I wonder why this is?"
ReplyDeleteI think most all of the major networks, even Fox, are putting up this kind of product. It's usually 30something-ish, so I wouldn't call it young. But the women you're bringing up seem to fill out a certain criteria: blond, fit, tough, aggressive, well-educated and, alas, lacking in humor.
Taiwan is the same. It seems people are more comfortable when their news-givers are female. There's probably something psychological in this formula. The only time this seems to change is from around six to eight p.m., when the anchorpersons tend to be 50-ish and male. If you were ask me for quick analyses, I'd probably have to go with this: people don't view serious news as sexual. At 6:30 in the evening, they're burned out from the office and hungry. No sexy little dish is going to change that.
Vince, you should really follow up by writing to Save-On. I think you've got another post here. You're on to something interesting too.