Legislation would ensure hourly workers have stable and predictable work hours.
At the Wednesday, October 24th, 2018 Boston City Council meeting, City Councilor At-Large Michelle Wu will file an ordinance aimed at strengthening protections for hourly workers. The Fair Work Week ordinance will enforce policies such as employers providing work schedules 14 days in advance and that new shifts will be offered to current employees first.
“Every contractor working with the City of Boston should provide its worker with schedules that are predictable, flexible, and that provide enough hours for families to make ends meet,” said Councilor Wu. “We need to take every step in our power to ensure economic mobility and decrease inequality. This ordinance would align our municipal buying power to support working families with access to good jobs and policies that make work-life balance more possible.”
According to the Economic Policy Institute, the lowest income workers tend to have the most irregular schedules, which leads to greater work-stress. Women and people of color are disproportionately represented in the pool hourly and part-time workers.
The legislation will be introduced at Wednesday’s 12pm City Council and assigned to the Committee on Government Operations for a hearing.
