Fast Food Workers Striking?!?!?

EMTFreakGirl

This just in: https://www.facebook.com/Fightfor15
While http://www.indeed.com/salary/q-EMT-l-Pittsburgh,-PA.html

So EMS workers in Pittsburg PA make on average $11.53/hour, but they DD workers want $15? What's wrong with this picture?

ironanimal

Every job worked at full time hours should pay a living wage.

THIS!!!!

Yeah, who cares that a trained monkey can do the job and you have NO marketable skills whatsoever. You should make more money because you breath, damnit! [/sarcasm]

God, the entitlement some people feel is sickening. If you want to make more money, make yourself more valuable. If you are stuck earning minimum wage, news flash: YOU ARE CONTRIBUTING NOTHING WORTH MORE THAN THAT!

I would agree, if the cost of living wasn't in such a discrepancy with the minimum wage.

When I say a living wage, I mean a wage that puts a roof over your head and food in your belly. I'm not talking about phone and tv subscriptions, internet access, iphones, cars etc.

It's not an employeers job to put a roof over your head or food in your stomach. It is an employeers job to pay their employeers at market value. And guess what...market value for a non skilled job will not put a roof over your head or food in your stomach. It is a persons job to earn that. Nobody deserves anything just because the have a talent of consuming oxygen. If you can't make enough money at McDonald's to do that, then maybe you should re-examine your life. A fast food job is not worth minimum wage. They are already over paid. If they can't support themselves on that, it's their problem. Make yourself more valuable if you want to earn more.

My issue with this is that you seem to believe someone isn't skilled enough, they should have to live miserably. Progression to a better job isn't always a matter of just wanting to progress -- there isn't a lot of work available outside of very specialised areas and in the meantime, a lot of people turn to the bottom-rung jobs to get by. Should they really struggle to eat and have somewhere to live because they're not skilled "enough"?


Just to add, I've never worked at or below minimum wage, and worked jobs from £7.60 ($12) to £15.40 ($25) an hour. That does include the London Living Allowance, so it's inflated compared to comparable positions in the rest of the country.

Slacker16

It is an employeers job to pay their employeers at market value.

Precisely. And a market is a place of negotiation and haggling.

Strikes are simply organized haggling. Fast food employees go on them, like all employees (and anyone who has ever haggled about anything), because they think they can be successful.

I see no reason to bring "morality" into it on one side or another.

hbrittingham

Working fast food should be a stepping stone to getting a better job... not a career position. :bigsmile:

Yeah, because everyone has that choice in life. Not.

Everybody DOES have a choice. If you are working at McDonald's when you are 40, you made that choice. We all have similar opportunities in life. If a person decides to settle on a fast food service job, but can't seem to get ahead financially, should we just give them more without earning it?

I'm personally tired of putting in 50 to 60 hours a week to support my family and then be expected to pay out more for those that refuse to work or do the bare minimum. If you can't afford the latest and greatest gadgets on your current job, move on.

Actually, we don't have similar opportunities. Which is why we have fast food workers and why they are paid so little. Does anyone seriously think that they can just up and quit the job they are working and magically find a better paying one? They aren't trying to afford the latest and greatest gadgets, they are trying to keep a roof over their heads and food in their and their family's bellies. Oh, and maybe some electricity to run the lights and the heat in the winter.

FWIW, I don't think $15 per hour is reasonable, but $10.50 per hour would make a huge difference for people who are making so little.

AlsDonkBoxSquat

I'm torn on this point. I was reading this week that minimum wage hasn't increased for the rate of inflation, cost of living, etc at the same rate as most other pay structures making it impossible to keep up with the cost of living for unskilled and uneducated individuals and their families (and don't even get me started on pay that servers earn, with is wage adjusted down to account for tips). As a person with means and the support structure to have a degree from a university I know I'm fortunate, but even with that support system I found it difficult to navigate the higher education system and am constantly learning about the possibilities I missed out on because my parents just didn't know better. I can't imagine trying to do that in a family where that support wasn't present.

I worked with inner city girls as a younger woman, no one talked to them about education until I did when they were in high school, all their parents were in GA and their asperations were as simple as making it out of high school without getting pregnant, and then hopefully find a job working in fast food with the desire to get out of the projects.

I also read an article recently that discussed fast food franchise owners acknowledging that their employees needed to work 2 - 3 jobs to survive because the franchise owners didn't want to give their employees full time hours (lest they have to pay benefits) or overtime hours. To avoid paying benefits and overtime franchise owners were employee sharing to increase employee work hours overall, set up coordinating schedules, but avoid paying benefits or overtime.

Considering all these factors, I'd say that there is a great necessity for a minimum wage adjustment overall. I also think that there should be an increase in protections for workers to avoid the collusion issue with employee sharing to avoid providing fair benefits. These are people who, while uneducated, are trying to make a life for themselves and their families without full dependence on GA, the ones who aren't students just looking for some extra cash for gas, are trying to change their life in some way.

I don't understand why it's so difficult to realize that the strength of our economy comes from the independence of the individuals from Social Services, and it's only possible if they are making a living wage.

djeffreys10

-If you work a full time job you deserve enough money to be able to live. Any business should be able to pay it's workers a salary where they aren't still considered poor. Especially when the business in question earns billions of dollars in profits.

The poorest in America are very wealthy by international standards. You only deserve what your job is worth.

-Workers who aren't paid enough go on public assistance. So regular tax payers have to make up their difference in salary. And businesses are fine with that. They have no problem with you paying their employees instead of them.

Then the problem is the government stealing money from us to support other people. Address the problem. This argument is invalid to this topic.

-Someone has to work at these jobs. Yes it would be nice if everyone could find more lucrative employment. But then who's going to serve the food?

The same one's that do now. The people who choose not to better themselves.

-Fast food employees specifically are essential to the operation of the business. Not one dollar gets made without them. So why is it that they aren't deserving of a wage they can live on?

Because they can be replaced in less than a day by anyone off the street. As such, there is nothing about them that makes them valuable.

softwind

This just in: https://www.facebook.com/Fightfor15
While http://www.indeed.com/salary/q-EMT-l-Pittsburgh,-PA.html

So EMS workers in Pittsburg PA make on average $11.53/hour, but they DD workers want $15? What's wrong with this picture?

Exactly. Why should someone at a fast food restaurant make more thn someone who had to pay and go to school to learn a skill or trade? I worked fast food while in highschool, yeah it wasn't easy, but it wasn't hard either. Yeah I wouldn't be able to live on it, but that's why I went to college and got an education so I could get a better paying job and use my skills.

jentxyz

Get paid equivalent to what I make now without an education. Where has the strive to succeed in America gone? People are learning more to be lazy now-a-days.

SloRunner25

I HATE when people think that retail/food industry workers are lazy and god forbid we want to make a wage we're able to live off of. I love how we're all lazy, good for nothings, who didn't go to college like "successful" people. Um, no. I went to college. I have a Bachelors Degree. I earned Summa Cum Laude was in the top of my class and did more extracurriculars with leadership positions than I can count. Plus work. And there are many more people like me and who did more than I did in college stuck working these positions. I've tried for 3 years to get a "real" job, Monday through Friday with 9-5 hours. I've redone my resume so many times and actually paid someone to redo it as well. Still no dice. With that said, I enjoy my work. Yes I "fold sweaters and teach other to fold sweaters for a living." But there is SO MUCH MORE to retail (and to food service...I started there) than the customers know. So do me a favor and be nice to a retail/food service worker today. They're out there on their feet for 8+ hours a day on crummy wages, being yelled at for things that aren't their fault, trying to make a life for themselves and their families.

Some people put in the hard work and DO NOT get lucky like the rest of you people who "contribute to society." Then where would you idiots shop? There would be no one to work in the malls or restaurants or fast food (because yes some of you health nuts still give into the occasional craving). Someone has to work blue collar jobs and I think they deserve a livable wage.

EMTFreakGirl

This just in: https://www.facebook.com/Fightfor15
While http://www.indeed.com/salary/q-EMT-l-Pittsburgh,-PA.html

So EMS workers in Pittsburg PA make on average $11.53/hour, but they DD workers want $15? What's wrong with this picture?

Exactly. Why should someone at a fast food restaurant make more thn someone who had to pay and go to school to learn a skill or trade? I worked fast food while in highschool, yeah it wasn't easy, but it wasn't hard either. Yeah I wouldn't be able to live on it, but that's why I went to college and got an education so I could get a better paying job and use my skills.

:flowerforyou: :drinker:

djeffreys10

Every job worked at full time hours should pay a living wage.

THIS!!!!

Yeah, who cares that a trained monkey can do the job and you have NO marketable skills whatsoever. You should make more money because you breath, damnit! [/sarcasm]

God, the entitlement some people feel is sickening. If you want to make more money, make yourself more valuable. If you are stuck earning minimum wage, news flash: YOU ARE CONTRIBUTING NOTHING WORTH MORE THAN THAT!

I would agree, if the cost of living wasn't in such a discrepancy with the minimum wage.

When I say a living wage, I mean a wage that puts a roof over your head and food in your belly. I'm not talking about phone and tv subscriptions, internet access, iphones, cars etc.

It's not an employeers job to put a roof over your head or food in your stomach. It is an employeers job to pay their employeers at market value. And guess what...market value for a non skilled job will not put a roof over your head or food in your stomach. It is a persons job to earn that. Nobody deserves anything just because the have a talent of consuming oxygen. If you can't make enough money at McDonald's to do that, then maybe you should re-examine your life. A fast food job is not worth minimum wage. They are already over paid. If they can't support themselves on that, it's their problem. Make yourself more valuable if you want to earn more.

My issue with this is that you seem to believe someone isn't skilled enough, they should have to live miserably. Progression to a better job isn't always a matter of just wanting to progress -- there isn't a lot of work available outside of very specialised areas and in the meantime, a lot of people turn to the bottom-rung jobs to get by. Should they really struggle to eat and have somewhere to live because they're not skilled "enough"?


Just to add, I've never worked at or below minimum wage, and worked jobs from £7.60 ($12) to £15.40 ($25) an hour. That does include the London Living Allowance, so it's inflated compared to comparable positions in the rest of the country.

Yes, they should. If they don't want to struggle to eat and have somewhere to live, they are free to better themselves. If they choose not to do that, they can live with the result of their choices.

SteveJWatson

Anyone who thinks minimum wage is not MORE than a fair wage for making a big mac is a few fries short of a happy meal themselves.

A fair living wage is important to everyone, however, I find this offensive! I find it offensive that the fast food workers could potentially make more than me, a degreed paramedic (Paramedicine, BS Bio-Chem, BA Military Studies (history/poli-sci hybrid), BA English Lit and a smattering of AS/AA degrees (just for fun)) still paying off student loans and trying to live on $13/hour, at my HIGHEST paying job, out of the 4 jobs that I have. Or, more than teachers in most systems. Get an education and educate our children. Get an education and work to hold the Grim Reaper to a 'zero day.' Worth LESS than a Big Mac and fries? I just want to scream, "PRIORITIES PEOPLE!" to those threatening to strike. (getting off my soapbox now.) :blushing:

What is wrong with this picture is that presumably well educated people are stupid enough to scapegoat fast food workers who want a living wage instead of struggling to gain a better wage for themselves. If you are dissatisfied with your wage, then join your union and negotiate better wages, and support those in other industries trying to do the same. For your wage to go up, the wage of fast food workers does not have to go down.


Fast food jobs are not nescessarily a stepping stone to all or even most. Companies are always pyramidal in structure so it stands to reason that the majority must be on the bottom rung for them top operate a heirachical system. I would have thought this is fairly obvious.

Serah87

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
~Chinese Proverb

djeffreys10

It is an employeers job to pay their employeers at market value.

Precisely. And a market is a place of negotiation and haggling.

Strikes are simply organized haggling. Fast food employees go on them, like all employees (and anyone who has ever haggled about anything), because they think they can be successful.

I see no reason to bring "morality" into it on one side or another.

And when they are all fired and replaced in less than a day, they can realize they were overpaid in the first place and should have been greatful.

djeffreys10

Working fast food should be a stepping stone to getting a better job... not a career position. :bigsmile:

Yeah, because everyone has that choice in life. Not.

Everybody DOES have a choice. If you are working at McDonald's when you are 40, you made that choice. We all have similar opportunities in life. If a person decides to settle on a fast food service job, but can't seem to get ahead financially, should we just give them more without earning it?

I'm personally tired of putting in 50 to 60 hours a week to support my family and then be expected to pay out more for those that refuse to work or do the bare minimum. If you can't afford the latest and greatest gadgets on your current job, move on.

Actually, we don't have similar opportunities. Which is why we have fast food workers and why they are paid so little. Does anyone seriously think that they can just up and quit the job they are working and magically find a better paying one? They aren't trying to afford the latest and greatest gadgets, they are trying to keep a roof over their heads and food in their and their family's bellies. Oh, and maybe some electricity to run the lights and the heat in the winter.

FWIW, I don't think $15 per hour is reasonable, but $10.50 per hour would make a huge difference for people who are making so little.

The choices they made in life is what lead them to this position. They made the choices, it is not an employeers job to make the results of their bad choices more comfortable.

SteveJWatson

Yes, they should. If they don't want to struggle to eat and have somewhere to live, they are free to better themselves. If they choose not to do that, they can live with the result of their choices.

Or, they can choose to unionise and negotiate better conditions. Collective bargaining - the reason that strikes are effective is because, actually those workers at the bottom are vital for a company to function. If they were as worthless as you seem to think they are, then they could all walk off the job to no detriment whatsoever. They are not slaves, it is their right to withdraw their labour.

hbrittingham

Working fast food should be a stepping stone to getting a better job... not a career position. :bigsmile:

Yeah, because everyone has that choice in life. Not.

Everybody DOES have a choice. If you are working at McDonald's when you are 40, you made that choice. We all have similar opportunities in life. If a person decides to settle on a fast food service job, but can't seem to get ahead financially, should we just give them more without earning it?

I'm personally tired of putting in 50 to 60 hours a week to support my family and then be expected to pay out more for those that refuse to work or do the bare minimum. If you can't afford the latest and greatest gadgets on your current job, move on.

Actually, we don't have similar opportunities. Which is why we have fast food workers and why they are paid so little. Does anyone seriously think that they can just up and quit the job they are working and magically find a better paying one? They aren't trying to afford the latest and greatest gadgets, they are trying to keep a roof over their heads and food in their and their family's bellies. Oh, and maybe some electricity to run the lights and the heat in the winter.

FWIW, I don't think $15 per hour is reasonable, but $10.50 per hour would make a huge difference for people who are making so little.

The choices they made in life is what lead them to this position. They made the choices, it is not an employeers job to make the results of their bad choices more comfortable.

What's sad is that you honestly believe that.

SteveJWatson

It is an employeers job to pay their employeers at market value.

Precisely. And a market is a place of negotiation and haggling.

Strikes are simply organized haggling. Fast food employees go on them, like all employees (and anyone who has ever haggled about anything), because they think they can be successful.

I see no reason to bring "morality" into it on one side or another.

And when they are all fired and replaced in less than a day, they can realize they were overpaid in the first place and should have been greatful.

If they could be replaced that easily and quickly, then a strike would be utterly ineffective. But they can't, so it isn't.

djeffreys10

Yes, they should. If they don't want to struggle to eat and have somewhere to live, they are free to better themselves. If they choose not to do that, they can live with the result of their choices.

Or, they can choose to unionise and negotiate better conditions. Collective bargaining - the reason that strikes are effective is because, actually those workers at the bottom are vital for a company to function. If they were as worthless as you seem to think they are, then they could all walk off the job to no detriment whatsoever. They are not slaves, it is their right to withdraw their labour.

They can withdraw their labor, and they can see how difficult they are to replace. Not very difficult at all.

ElliottTN

If these giant Fortune 500 Companies don't pay their employees a minimum living wage for full time work then we as Americans will end up picking up the bill from our taxes ie. food stamps and welfare etc.. I personally would rather have these giant companies just pay their employees a living wage so I don't have to pay them with my tax money. Maybe that's just me.

I don't think you fully understand how connected their wage is to your wage. Sure, you may be one of the ones who could bite the bullet and have your wage actually worth less because you make enough but that isn't true for a good majority of other people.

The value of the dollar being degraded to a good majority of skilled blue collar workers would have a huge impact. Say someone who was a journeyman electrician. They may a comp wage as them and as prices for everyday items increase, they start to drown...but due to how much they make they don't qualify for any gov benefits. Hell, even the workers themselves. As their pay increase, prices go up, demand drops slightly because disposable income to feed into te service industry is reduced whike the cost of living is raised and where do they really land after it is all said and done?

Everytime you give a dollar somewhere it has to be taken from somewhere else.

I'm not saying there isn't a fit all answer to fix these issues, but this isn't it. If the worlds smartest economist haven't figured it out yet then there is a snowballs chance in hell a strike originated and backed by a union is gonna solve this issue.