This blog post is in response to fellow classmate Heidi Leung: https://blogs.ubc.ca/heidileung/2014/10/05/part-time-job/
I agree with Heidi’s comment that although short part time jobs are good for students in need of some extra cash; it is definately not ideal for adults who are looking to make a living. For example, my mother’s work place in the last few years has begun to give out more “seasonal oppoutunities” which really means a person will be hired for the busy period and then laid off until next year. This is an unfair way that companies have found around labour laws. Another example happened to me personally this summer.
This summer I worked at a large chain grocery store and was consistently working 30-40 hours weekly– all while being a part time worker. This was fine for the summer as I was working to earn some extra change for tuition that following September, but when I requested to my store supervisor to instead work 10-15 hours a week she said no. Why? Because the minimum weekly hour for the company is 20 hours.
This meant that all workers there were working close to full time hours regularely without the benefits of being fulltime.The pros meant workers were given at least a set amount of hours no matter how busy or slow it is, but on the flip side it meant workers could be easily laid off.
A look at this problem of companies hiring only for part time workers makes us automatically this is a bad issue, but on the flip side students, and companies enjoy this. This is an issue of ethics and where corporations stand, and although it is a “little” matter it questions how ethical these companies claim to be.