Fast Food Workers Striking?!?!?

WendyTerry420

Will all of you who live in an America that is a meritocracy tell me how to get to your alternate universe? Because I might prefer your version better than the reality.

Sure, here is the road map. It started by making good grades in high school rather than going out and partying/getting drunk/getting laid/whatever. Said good grades, I used to earn a full academic scholarship to a major university. At said university, I got a degree that was in high demand with a very well forcasted demand growth (electrical and computer engineering). Using aforementioned degree, I obtained an engineering job. In which my pay has increased with merit. Road map to a meritocracy.

Good thing it was all handed to me.

Yeah, I've earned everything I ever got. Nothing was handed to me either. What were parents teaching these folks who think hard work can't pay off? I don't get it.

WendyTerry420

No- not anyone can be a CEO. But you can increase your chances by

a. being born a man. Really, I recommend this. Its useful in almost all aspects of life.
b. be born into a family and circumstance of privilege
c. be white
d. be encouraged to do an MBA or lesser business degree- hopefully paid for by wealthy and supportive parents
e. learn to network real good at the bar with the boys.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/therootdc/post/top-20-black-female-ceos/2012/03/27/gIQAdZnNeS_blog.html

ajaxe432

Will all of you who live in an America that is a meritocracy tell me how to get to your alternate universe? Because I might prefer your version better than the reality.

Sure, here is the road map. It started by making good grades in high school rather than going out and partying/getting drunk/getting laid/whatever. Said good grades, I used to earn a full academic scholarship to a major university. At said university, I got a degree that was in high demand with a very well forcasted demand growth (electrical and computer engineering). Using aforementioned degree, I obtained an engineering job. In which my pay has increased with merit. Road map to a meritocracy.

Good thing it was all handed to me.

Best quote here! This is what it is about....What are foundation was built on! Hard work!! Working to where you want to go and not stopping until you get there!!!! WIth this, these protestors are essentially demanding they want 15 dollars an hour. They dont have any desire to increase their worth, but instead gimme it!! I deserve it!! Sad....

Rage_Phish

No- not anyone can be a CEO. But you can increase your chances by

a. being born a man. Really, I recommend this. Its useful in almost all aspects of life.
b. be born into a family and circumstance of privilege
c. be white
d. be encouraged to do an MBA or lesser business degree- hopefully paid for by wealthy and supportive parents
e. learn to network real good at the bar with the boys.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/therootdc/post/top-20-black-female-ceos/2012/03/27/gIQAdZnNeS_blog.html

good job, you found 20. I guess that proves there isn't a disproportionate number of while male CEO's

Rage_Phish

Will all of you who live in an America that is a meritocracy tell me how to get to your alternate universe? Because I might prefer your version better than the reality.

Sure, here is the road map. It started by making good grades in high school rather than going out and partying/getting drunk/getting laid/whatever. Said good grades, I used to earn a full academic scholarship to a major university. At said university, I got a degree that was in high demand with a very well forcasted demand growth (electrical and computer engineering). Using aforementioned degree, I obtained an engineering job. In which my pay has increased with merit. Road map to a meritocracy.

Good thing it was all handed to me.

Best quote here! This is what it is about....What are foundation was built on! Hard work!! Working to where you want to go and not stopping until you get there!!!! WIth this, these protestors are essentially demanding they want 15 dollars an hour. They dont have any desire to increase their worth, but instead gimme it!! I deserve it!! Sad....

The country i live (USA) in actually was founded by making demands. Demands for freedom, demands for represenation, and demands for rights

digitalbill

I am sorry but, there is no way a guy lifting french fries from a basket should make more then an E-1 Private in the Army.

Given that an E-1 hasn't actually completed training I'm not convinced that's a reasonable comparison. I'd also observe that "army" captures several hundred trades, some of which are highly skilled, some less so.

But it does beg the question, how does one compare relative worth of jobs? Is is reasonable that a cook in the army is paid the same as a linguist, vehicle mechanic or crime scene investigator?

Clearly it's not about productivity, as most military and other public sector don't generate revenue. However much of the public sector is about creating an environment where the economy can actually operate effectively.

What;'s interesting about the whole thread is that much of the argument is about relative worth, but nobody has credibly challenged the idea of withdrawal of labour as a legitimate means of negotiation. Except inasmuch as recognising that where one is discussing a relatively low skill role the benefit of withdrawing labour is very limited.

Fair enough.
Lets take an E-2 who has graduated Infantry school.
You now have a young man who has a particular set of skills. He decided to go to "school" to better himself.
You mentioned a cook in the Army being compared to other skills.
Please be aware that an Army cook is a far cry from a McDonalds cook and therefore, comparing the skills of a mess hall worker to a mechanic is indeed an apples to apples comparison.
Most jobs in the Military are highly skilled. Please don't make the mistake of thinking that an infantry Soldier or an artillary Solder don't have skill sets that far exceed the guy wrapping burritos at Taco Bell.
Now, you mentioned the idea of withdrawing labor. I am assuming that you mean that every single fast food employee making minimum wage all walks off the job at the same time.
In my humble opinion, any given fast food joint would be down for a maximum of 72 hours.
If you have ever worked at a fast food resturant, you know that training is not difficult.
The reason a strike won't work in the fast food industry is because for every one employee willing to strike, there are five others willing to take their place.
Now, if you get the delivery drivers to join in on the strike, then maybe there will be some negotiating power involved.

ajaxe432

Will all of you who live in an America that is a meritocracy tell me how to get to your alternate universe? Because I might prefer your version better than the reality.

Sure, here is the road map. It started by making good grades in high school rather than going out and partying/getting drunk/getting laid/whatever. Said good grades, I used to earn a full academic scholarship to a major university. At said university, I got a degree that was in high demand with a very well forcasted demand growth (electrical and computer engineering). Using aforementioned degree, I obtained an engineering job. In which my pay has increased with merit. Road map to a meritocracy.

Good thing it was all handed to me.

Best quote here! This is what it is about....What are foundation was built on! Hard work!! Working to where you want to go and not stopping until you get there!!!! WIth this, these protestors are essentially demanding they want 15 dollars an hour. They dont have any desire to increase their worth, but instead gimme it!! I deserve it!! Sad....

The country i live (USA) in actually was founded by making demands. Demands for freedom, demands for represenation, and demands for rights

I am demanding you agree with me!:glasses:

Vaild point btw! Cant argue there:)

But, these are two way different scenarios, that really can not be compared.

ElliottTN

Penis.

Big ole privelaged white penis holding you down all the time because you are a women and/or a minority.

It's the only answer and I really don't care.

(Jumps on large white penis shaped horse and rides into the sunset)

tigersword

If the CEO were to give up his entire annual salary and distribute it equally to the entire workforce, how much more would each worker receive?

If the hourly wage were to be increased to $15/hour, what would the total amount be?

These are sincere questions...I honestly don't know the answer (because I'm missing some important pieces of the equation)...but I think these answers might give proper economic perspective to the last few pages of discussion.

McDonalds employs 1.7 million people. So if we got rid of the CEOs salary and evenly distributed it, those 1.7 million people (assuming a 14 mil CEO salary) get an $8 raise for an entire year or a .023 cent a day raise or a .002 cent an hour raise.

So 15.02 if they raised the minimum wage to $15 and also distributed the CEOs salary.

Does that include the $30 million they paid their former CEO as a retirement "performance bonus?" Does it also include the tax REFUND McDonald's received because they were able to deduct all the "performance bonus" parts of the two salaries from their taxes (as well as the "performance bonuses" of every corporate executive, hint 99% of what they actually pay themselves are moved around to be classified as "performance bonuses" for this reason?)

Why is that the CEOs and corporate executives are allowed to just arbitrarily decide how much they want to pay themselves, but regular workers have to rely on what the "market" thinks they are worth? So if I'm the CEO of a company, it's perfectly ok for me to say I'm worth X amount of millions just "because," but if I'm just a regular employee, I'm not allowed that same right?

I really don't understand how anybody that isn't a CEO making millions of dollars can be ok with this entire scenario. You're really ok with paying higher taxes so that CEOs can get tax subsidies to pay themselves ridiculous salaries, and then pay their employees at less than the poverty level, meaning that you have to pay even more taxes to support government programs like food stamps and welfare? I don't get the logic there at all. This used to be a country where we cared about each other, and helped each other, and stood together. This whole, "I've got mine, Jack, you're on your own," mentality is quite honestly the most unAmerican attitude I've ever seen.

MeanderingMammal

Lets take an E-2 who has graduated Infantry school.
You now have a young man who has a particular set of skills. He decided to go to "school" to better himself.
You mentioned a cook in the Army being compared to other skills.

I did actually edit my previous to clarify that I meant a cook in the army compared to linguist, VM or CSI in the army, all trades that are available. These are all trades that compare to the outside world in a way that gravs and gunners don't.

Please be aware that an Army cook is a far cry from a McDonalds cook...

Given some of what I've eaten in the chow hall I might be tempted to challenge that

Most jobs in the Military are highly skilled. Please don't make the mistake of thinking that an infantry Soldier or an artillary Solder don't have skill sets that far exceed the guy wrapping burritos at Taco Bell.

If you take a look at my user icon you'll note a veterans badge and Royal British Legion badge. Former OF-4.

My underlying point was, how do we compare relative worth. Even within the armed forces there is a very wide range of skills, all subject to the same reward package. Quite reasonably there is some debate about whether individual trades are worth the same monetary value. As you say, infantry training offers a particular set of skills, so does language school.

Now, you mentioned the idea of withdrawing labor. I am assuming that you mean that every single fast food employee making minimum wage all walks off the job at the same time.

Actually, given the context of my comments, I was on about the general principle of withdrawal of labour. Employees and employers enter into a commercial transaction, and as a negotiating point the good being transacted, time and expertise, might be taken away. In the specific example it's not a particularly strong position, but I find it interesting that in thread there is a lot of comment about the worth of the people concerned. It'd be interesting to see if the same views were being expressed were the strikers in a nuclear power plant or similar?

SkinnyFatAlbert

Raise their wages and charge a little more for the food. Your welcome. Took me two seconds to solve that problem. And no the prices wouldn't go up that much. Look it up.

determined_erin

I got my HS diploma, college degree, and career a month out of college. I've worked very hard my entire life to earn that salary and benefits that come with it. To keep the job and advance, I work hard each day.

Those who do not have college degrees or even HS diplomas get less of a salary with less benefits. This is how our society works! Now there are exceptions (like the founder of Facebook, for example), but this is how it works for the majority.

The bottom line is, you get paid for your whole package (education, skill, hard work, etc). People who have all of the education and skills and stoop to a fast food job obviously has something wrong with the picture. Most likely, the problem is the degree chosen in college. It doesn't make sense to choose art, psychology, English, history, etc unless they are paired with an education degree. It should be well-considered the kind of job that can be achieved after college graduation.

I make $25/hour, so why should someone who is uneducated (most of the time) get paid $15/hour? I think their pay should stay the way it is.

ajaxe432

I got my HS diploma, college degree, and career a month out of college. I've worked very hard my entire life to earn that salary and benefits that come with it. To keep the job and advance, I work hard each day.

Those who do not have college degrees or even HS diplomas get less of a salary with less benefits. This is how our society works! Now there are exceptions (like the founder of Facebook, for example), but this is how it works for the majority.

The bottom line is, you get paid for your whole package (education, skill, hard work, etc). People who have all of the education and skills and stoop to a fast food job obviously has something wrong with the picture. Most likely, the problem is the degree chosen in college. It doesn't make sense to choose art, psychology, English, history, etc unless they are paired with an education degree. It should be well-considered the kind of job that can be achieved after college graduation.

I make $25/hour, so why should someone who is uneducated (most of the time) get paid $15/hour? I think their pay should stay the way it is.

I agree, but for some people believe they shouldnt without any valid argument to back their thoughts.

ajaxe432

:noway:

Raise their wages and charge a little more for the food. Your welcome. Took me two seconds to solve that problem. And no the prices wouldn't go up that much. Look it up.

MeanderingMammal

Why is that the CEOs and corporate executives are allowed to just arbitrarily decide how much they want to pay themselves, but regular workers have to rely on what the "market" thinks they are worth? So if I'm the CEO of a company, it's perfectly ok for me to say I'm worth X amount of millions just "because," but if I'm just a regular employee, I'm not allowed that same right?

For a public company the shareholders have the opportunity to validate that, and under most national sets of accounting rules there should be some form of remuneration committee as well. There is a weakness in remuneration committees inasmuch as they're generally made up of peers in the non-exec world so it has the potential to be quite incestuous.

You're really ok with paying higher taxes so that CEOs can get tax subsidies to pay themselves ridiculous salaries, and then pay their employees at less than the poverty level,

That's a symptom of an over-complicated tax regime. The system incentivises lower wages and the movement of reward into more tax efficient mechanisms.

wjstoj

I was told to come in here and stir up the pot to keep myself amused for the last hour of "work"...No way I'm reading 600 posts to try to get up to speed so I'll just say that you have free will - if you don't want to work at McDonalds and/or don't want to make $7.75 an hour, fine...don't. Yes, these workers have the right to strike, many great changes have been made in the US by protests and strikes; however, that doesn't entitle them to anything. In the end, that might be one of the biggest problems, the feeling of entitlement.

All that being said, if their strike works - I'm organizing a strike for all accountants to go on strike until our pay doubles as well

jofjltncb6

If the CEO were to give up his entire annual salary and distribute it equally to the entire workforce, how much more would each worker receive?

If the hourly wage were to be increased to $15/hour, what would the total amount be?

These are sincere questions...I honestly don't know the answer (because I'm missing some important pieces of the equation)...but I think these answers might give proper economic perspective to the last few pages of discussion.

McDonalds employs 1.7 million people. So if we got rid of the CEOs salary and evenly distributed it, those 1.7 million people (assuming a 14 mil CEO salary) get an $8 raise for an entire year or a .023 cent a day raise or a .002 cent an hour raise.

So 15.02 if they raised the minimum wage to $15 and also distributed the CEOs salary.

Makes sense. Now how about the other topic...if the employees' hourly wage were to be increased to $15/hour, what would the *total* amount be (annually)?

digitalbill

Actually, given the context of my comments, I was on about the general principle of withdrawal of labour. Employees and employers enter into a commercial transaction, and as a negotiating point the good being transacted, time and expertise, might be taken away. In the specific example it's not a particularly strong position, but I find it interesting that in thread there is a lot of comment about the worth of the people concerned. It'd be interesting to see if the same views were being expressed were the strikers in a nuclear power plant or similar?

If it were a nucular power plant, aircraft control towers, or any other job where the workers could not be replaced in the course of a long weekend, then I agree, the strikers have MUCH more power.
In the case of fast food workers however, that simply doesn't apply.
I think the "value" of an empolyee might be directly related to how easily they can be replaced.

Timshel_

If the CEO were to give up his entire annual salary and distribute it equally to the entire workforce, how much more would each worker receive?

If the hourly wage were to be increased to $15/hour, what would the total amount be?

These are sincere questions...I honestly don't know the answer (because I'm missing some important pieces of the equation)...but I think these answers might give proper economic perspective to the last few pages of discussion.

McDonalds employs 1.7 million people. So if we got rid of the CEOs salary and evenly distributed it, those 1.7 million people (assuming a 14 mil CEO salary) get an $8 raise for an entire year or a .023 cent a day raise or a .002 cent an hour raise.

So 15.02 if they raised the minimum wage to $15 and also distributed the CEOs salary.

It is amazing how flippant people are about other people's income. Not to mention killing the business by removing the top strategic decision maker.

wjstoj

Is the strike why my McDonalds stopped selling any sized coffee for 79 cents ?? Now it's $1, but with tax, I end up having to break 2 singles....it's insane I tell you...INSANE!! :P