I’ve been reading about the decentralization of labor in the late 20th century, how businesses moved from large factories in the city to smaller factories in rural areas mainly because workers are less likely to organize in small numbers.
I’m wondering if the skeleton crews of today’s fast food places are done for the same reason. When I worked in one of these places, the managers used terms like “full-labor” and “half-labor” and they would send people home when business was slow.
When you think about it, skeleton crews are great for corporate. They spend less on labor, workers are more stressed from the increased work and less likely to organize, customers complain about longer wait times but they blame the workers and not corporate. It’s just something I’ve been thinking about.