By US Daily Review Staff.
At a time when unemployment is at a record we had not seen since the Great Depression and real unemployment close to 20 million people, there is an organization that wants to take one of the nation’s largest employers to task: Target. More than 7,000 people have joined a campaign on Change.org calling on the retailer Target to reverse its decision to open its doors on Thanksgiving Day and allow workers to spend the holiday with family. Many of those participating in the campaign are employees.
The campaign on Change.org was launched by Anthony Hardwick, a Target employee of three years in Omaha, Nebraska, following news that the company’s management had moved the standard “Black Friday” opening time up from 5am on Friday to midnight on Thanksgiving. The new opening time will require employees to arrive at work no later than 11pm on Thanksgiving Day.
“All Americans should be able to break bread with loved ones on Thanksgiving,” said Hardwick, who works as a part-time parking attendant at a Target store in Omaha. “With the midnight opening, employees like myself will have to leave for work right in the middle of Thanksgiving Dinner. We don’t mind hard work, but cutting into our holidays is a step too far.”
“If Target doesn’t reverse its decision and allow associates to spend Thanksgiving holidays with their family, they might suffer from a fast-growing consumer backlash,” Hardwick added. This is a threatening tone for an actual employee and he is driver in the effort to make sure his employer, is in fact, punished.
Target is not the only “culprit” of interrupting the holiday of its employees. Target, Macy’s, Best Buy and Kohl’s all plan to open at midnight on Thanksgiving, and Wal-Mart will go even further, with a 10 p.m. Thanksgiving start for some deals, a move that consumers are widely criticizing on social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Change.org. Of course, with critics, there will also be many who will simply wonder why anyone would want to hurt their own companies in such a challenging economy.
“What this Target employee has accomplished in just a few days is remarkable,” said Change.org Director of Organizing Jess Kutch. “With no budget and armed with only a laptop, in one weekend Anthony Hardwick has managed to recruit thousands of supporters from across the country. Change.org is about empowering anyone, anywhere to demand action on the issues that matter to them – and it has been incredible to watch Anthony Hardwick’s campaign take off.”
In spite of the massive unemployment and the demand for jobs, we live in unusual times. It is likely this movement is a reflection of the larger “Occupy” movement that has been seen throughout the country and even the world.
Many major retailers are choosing to remain closed on Thanksgiving Day, citing their employees’ right to a holiday.
“We wanted to give our associates Thanksgiving Day to spend with their families,” said Bill Gentner, senior vice president for marketing at J.C. Penney, in an interview with the New York Times.
As an update, within days tens of thousands of more have signed the petition, making the argument that it has truly gone viral.
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