So I applied for a job today.

Is there any kind of career path???

It is a very rough world.

I am 71 years old.

The $9 per hour should be a starting wage. Then regular raises until you reach "top rate" after about two years and then minimal cost of living raises of a few cents an hour once a year after that. At least that is how it was several years ago. It really depends on the contract the union negotiated but supermarket pay has been on the decline the last couple of decades.

Union dues are about $5 a week so the first .25/hr raise covers that and every other raise is yours to keep.

But why didn't the union call a general strike when everyone's hours were cut?

Basically department heads are all full time. Then for everyone else they hire all part time. The thing is a full time worker is a lot more expensive. A part timer might get $300 a month towards pension/healthcare benefits where a full timer might get $700. It is cheaper for the store to pay two part timers then to pay one full timer. It was very common even 20 years ago for stores to hire as few full timers as possible. Keeping all part timers below 35 hours. New contracts may have lowered that to 29. Workers can still get overtime but can't work more than 40 hours for a certain number of weeks before they have to be moved to full time. I'm sure it is someone's primary job to make sure no employee works enough that they have to be moved to full time and juggles the schedule accordingly.

The meat union is really the only strong one. The retail clerks doesn't have a lot of bargaining power, they only survive because they are backed up by the meat unions.

I think the plan should be for the workers to request a vote for change in union from the present union, I believe it U.ofU.L. (Union of Useless Leaders).

Bring in the union representing the McDonalds workers.