Editor’s note: George Will’s column will return on Monday.

By Gwen Bueling

I’ve been working in retail in the Yakima Valley for more than two decades. After working for years at Toys R Us, my life was turned upside down when private equity barons bankrupted our company. I lost my full-time job and had to start over, so I decided to go back to school to become a phlebotomist. But I am paying for my education out of my own pocket, and my family relied heavily on my earnings at Toys R Us. So I looked for another retail job.

I was grateful to find a job at TJ Maxx, but I’m starting over with no set hours and balancing work and school. I don’t know yet whether my manager will schedule around my classes. And sometimes I’m scheduled to work fewer shifts than I’d like. Not having enough hours means I can’t pay my bills, and it is only getting worse. Now it looks like I will have to sell my truck to make ends meet.

A recent study confirms what retail workers have known all along — unreliable work hours literally make us sick, tired, and miserable. Workers who get their schedules on short notice, work “clopening” shifts, or have their schedules changed at the last minute report far worse sleep, more unhappiness, and worse mental health than those who can count on stable hours. That’s partly because of big swings in income, and partly because of the stress of not being able to schedule appointments, line up childcare, or even know if we’ll make it to family gatherings.

Washington’s legislature is currently considering a bill (HB 1491) that would give people like me access to the hours we need to pay our bills and predictable schedules so we can plan our lives. In 2016, Seattle passed a secure scheduling law with basic protections for retail and food-service employees at large chains. Secure scheduling gives workers two weeks’ notice of their schedules and modest compensation for last minute shift changes. Employees at these chains don’t have to work exhausting “clopening” shifts, where the same worker who closes the store at 11 p.mm has to be back there at 6 a.m. The law requires employers to try to schedule around important stuff like childcare and schooling. And companies covered by secure scheduling have to offer their part-time workers the chance to get more hours before posting new positions.

Now, Washington state has a chance to take this common-sense policy state-wide. But some legislators are using it to divide rather than unite us. The house pushed through an amendment that would exclude workers in Yakima and other rural parts of the state from secure scheduling protections.

It doesn’t make sense: if a TJ Maxx employee in Spokane can have predictable hours and a chance to work enough hours to support her family, I deserve the same.

Working in unpredictable retail job has had a huge emotional and financial impact on me and my family. Now Washington legislators have a chance to help me and other people working hourly jobs have some basic stability. Big chains like Walmart, Denny’s, and McDonald’s can comply with secure scheduling at all their Washington locations.

Instead of leaving rural Washington behind, they need to do what’s right and pass secure scheduling for the whole state.

• Gwen Bueling is a Yakima resident.