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Robert “Happy” Allen runs a dog hospice from his home, taking care of anywhere between six and 22 dogs at a time. Right now, he's caring for he five miniature pinschers and a schipperke named Minchi, who toured with Legally Blonde the Musical before the pandemic.
Allen started working at PetSmart in 2015, which seemed to be the perfect job for his situation. His store in Tullahoma, TN, a small city about halfway between Chattanooga and Nashville, was only a three-minute commute from his home, making it easy for him to go back to care for his animals when he needed to.
The same year that Allen started his job at PetSmart, the company was acquired by private equity firm BC Partners Group in an $8.7 billion deal. Within months, he noticed that jobs were being cut without new employees hired to fill them. Allen was assigned shifts at two other locations and found himself driving three to four times a week to work at a PetSmart that was 85 miles away.
Allen's story isn't unique. Millions of part-time workers across the country are subject to volatile schedules making it hard for them to earn a living wage. Last week, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) and Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn), working alongside Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill), reintroduced two pieces of legislation aimed at remedying the issues hourly workers face every day:...
Moore has faced scrutiny for making false claims about his academic, military, and family backgrounds Democratic Maryland Gov. Wes Moore has embarked on a preemptive media campaign attacking his st...