Huffington Magazine Issue 69 | Page 4

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR HUFFINGTON 10.06.13 Disposable Workers N THIS WEEK’S ISSUE, we take a close look at the booming dollar-store business, where the labor comes almost as cheap as the off-brand laundry detergent. A new dollar store opens every six hours in America. Unfortunately, the jobs they bring look to be some of the worst our economy has to offer. Dave Jamieson speaks to dollar-store workers across the country, finding that the major players in the industry — Dollar General, Dollar Tree and Family ART STREIBER I Dollar — have grown their businesses by squeezing all they can out of their employees. The hours are brutal, the pay is low, and workers who happen to get hurt have a way of suddenly losing their jobs. And those workers who rise to become dollar-store managers too often find their lives become even more difficult as a result. Dawn Hughey, a former Dollar General employee, told Dave that dollar-store managers work up to 80 hours a week but aren’t eli- Join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook