To the editor,

I’m an older worker, but I don’t know how I’ll ever afford to retire. After she passed, I moved into my mom’s house, but I can’t afford the property taxes. I shouldn’t have to depend on my son to help with that, but I can barely cover the costs of groceries and other necessities on the low pay we have at Macy’s.

Just as bad as the pay, we face threats to our safety at work nearly daily. We are always down staff, so we’re stretched thin when it’s busy and we’re left alone for hours and hours managing busy departments. Shoplifters can get really aggressive and it’s scary. But because we’ve seen coworkers get in trouble when they’ve called security, a lot of us aren’t willing to risk our jobs to try to stop thieves.

I love my co-workers. I’ve met a lot of friends there, and our customers have been great. But Macy’s needs to do more to show respect for workers like me who are so critical to their business. That’s why we are united with the power of our union UFCW 3000, ready to strike during the busiest shopping days of the year around Black Friday. We hope our customers and the community will stand with us until Macy’s corporate shows us they care about more than their profits.

Janet Bates
Brier