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3,000 NYC Fast Food Workers Sign Petition for Better Conditions and Organizing Rights

The workers are advocating for bills that would tackle the issue of “clopenings” and allow them more latitude to organize.

When you're a fast food worker, low pay is only one part of a much larger problem. That's why workers convened on New York's City Hall yesterday—many of whom were among the 3,000 workers who had already signed a petition—asking New York City Council members to support a package of bills that they say would bring stability to both their jobs and their home lives.

A massive issue in the fast food industry is scheduling; workers regularly complain of erratic hours, last-minute schedule changes, and having to work "clopenings"—meaning having to close and open a store without enough time to sleep in between. A series of bills called the Fair Work Week legislation, now before the New York City Council, addresses these issues in several ways. First, the laws would require employers to provide two weeks' advance notice to workers of their schedules—or pay them a penalty. The legislation would also require employers to offer available shifts to existing part-timers, rather than hire new workers. Plus, the laws would discourage clopenings with the use of penalties.

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