
Ask HN: I'm thinking about starting an activist group. Do I have a worthy cause? - snowdragon
This NYtimes article summarizes the issue succinctly:<p>http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nytimes.com&#x2F;interactive&#x2F;2014&#x2F;08&#x2F;13&#x2F;us&#x2F;starbucks-workers-scheduling-hours.html<p>I grew up upper-middle class. The book &quot;Working Poor&quot; really opened up my mind to what life is like for low income workers.<p>When I first heard about the $15&#x2F;hour minimum wage movement, I initially rejected it. I studied Economics in college and I&#x27;m concerned what the effects would be to job growth. I&#x27;m still undecided.<p>What I think is a more pressing issue is &quot;on call scheduling&quot;. Technology should improve the quality of living for humanity. Instead, software is wrecking havoc on the home lives of the lowest paid employees.<p>I&#x27;m thinking about starting an activist group. Do you think people would get behind it if I executed properly?
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dalke
No. My suggestion would be to find one of the groups already working in this
field, get involved with them, and learn the ropes first, before starting your
own group.

You have no activism experience. You likely have no organization experience in
activism. It reads like your economics training focused on the needs of
capital, and not of labor. What do you know of labor history in the US? What
are the other groups working on this topc? Eg, I see the AFL-CIO is against
on-call scheduling, and [http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-on-call-
scheduling-201...](http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-on-call-
scheduling-20150413-story.html) from 2016 says:

> A coalition of advocates launched a national campaign Tuesday to press large
> retailers, restaurant chains and other companies to end on-call and last-
> minute scheduling, which allows companies to assign shifts to workers with
> only a few hours' notice.

How aligned are you with their positions, what are your differences, and why
should your group get funding instead of theirs?

That NYT article from 3 years ago says "Legislators and activists are now
promoting proposals and laws to mitigate the scheduling problems", and
concerns California. Have those laws gone into place? Do you think the right
solution is to improve the laws? Or better enforcement of the laws already
present?

Is on call scheduling your only focus? Or primary focus? How does it tie in
with wage theft, calls to raise the minimum wage, and other labor issues?

Suppose someone says that on-call scheduling promotes job growth. What
principles do you use to judge the balance between the desires of those who
control capital and those who labor, and decide we should do something which
might lead to less job growth but a better home life?

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jacalata
Seattle recently passed a law about scheduling designed to address some of
these issues - [http://www.seattle.gov/council/issues/secure-
scheduling](http://www.seattle.gov/council/issues/secure-scheduling) You could
start by getting in touch with the groups that campaigned for it. I think your
chances of starting an activist group are pretty poor if your exposure to this
issue is entirely second hand and you would do better to find existing groups
to support and help organize, even if they are not primarily focused on this
issue.

