Fast Food Workers Strikes = Win for better health
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Average time spent in the FF industry? 8 months. Woo Hoo!0
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In case anyone is prepared for some "light" reading...
The following is Testimony before Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, United States Senate
given by James Sherk, Senior Policy Analyst in Labor Economics
http://www.heritage.org/research/testimony/2013/06/what-is-minimum-wage-its-history-and-effects-on-the-economy
And followup questions for the record:
http://www.heritage.org/research/testimony/2013/11/what-is-minimum-wage0 -
If MW increases, the price of goods and services will also increase. Nobody will actually have more money because they will be paying more for the things they buy. My prediction would be that if fast food employees got 15 an hour the price of food would go up to make sure the company doesn't lose money. That 2$ burger will 6$ or more. Who is going to pay that? Fast food restaurants will lose money because people won't pay the higher prices and then the fast food restaurant will start firing workers because they don't have the business to warrant that number of employees.
So Mcdonald's quarterly profit margins go from 19% to 15%. Boo frickin hoo. The CEO's still a billionaire.0 -
Lol, burgers were $0.49 when I was getting them at McD's in the 70's. Guess what? People are still buying them. Why? Because people understand inflation.If MW increases, the price of goods and services will also increase. Nobody will actually have more money because they will be paying more for the things they buy. My prediction would be that if fast food employees got 15 an hour the price of food would go up to make sure the company doesn't lose money. That 2$ burger will 6$ or more. Who is going to pay that? Fast food restaurants will lose money because people won't pay the higher prices and then the fast food restaurant will start firing workers because they don't have the business to warrant that number of employees.
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Is this Willard Scott back in the day?0 -
Idiotic! Just stupid, man. These people don't give a rat's rump about what you cram into your piehole - this is about money, period. Likewise, if you're pathetic enough to require others to act to prevent you from eating "junk", why should anyone care what you think?0
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It's not so much that they shouldn't make minimum wage, it's more about fair working conditions and livable wage/hours. Minimum wage isn't a liveable wage in most states and then to top it off the fast food places only give their workers about 10 hours a week but they make their schedules sporadically making it very hard for them to get a second job.
Any job that is minimum wage shouldn't be a job you depend on for steady money. It's a transitional job for those in between jobs or just starting out in the work force (teenagers) or trying to keep occupied (retired).
If you need a second job to keep going, you are probably looking for the wrong type of job in the first place.
Anywhooooo..... Yeah this topic doesn't make sense. They are just going to hire cheaper labor.0 -
If you need a second job to keep going, you are probably looking for the wrong type of job in the first place.
Like the EMT from earlier? :huh: :noway:0 -
This same argument has been made for decades whenever the proposal to raise minimum wage comes up. Most small businesses are ran by families and family members. The ones that do have employees compensate by raising prices. Restaurants that people have frequented for years have seen price increases. Again, if what you say is totally valid, then economically we should have gone done a long time ago.
Um, when I was 18 and working minimum wage jobs, the pay way $3.25 an hour. Somehow our economy has survived the current minimum wage without the country going under.It's not an issue of whether or not someone should get a raise it's the issue of wanting to raise the minimum wage to $15/hr. So ok. The minimum wage is raised to $15/hr. So the people who are now earning that have some extra cash in their pocket which they spend. Fine but then they complain that they can't live on the $15/hr increase because they're spending that extra money they have so they need more so lets raise it to $20/hr. Then $30/hr. Where does it stop?
What I find ironic here is "skilled" people all over America complaining about the minimum wage raise proposal on "unskilled" workers in fast food/restaurant industry, yet aren't "skilled" enough to prepare food for themselves or family, so they go to place where "unskilled" workers do it for them.:laugh:
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If you raise the minimum wage dramatically then you have to raise everyone else's wages to compensate for the increase. If the minimum wage is increased to say $30/hr then the person who currently gets paid $30/hr wouldn't want to be paid "minimum wage" so their compensation would need to be increased which would cause a hardship on companies big and small. As it stands if the minimum wage is increased to $15/hr there are a lot of small businesses who won't be able to support this and therefore will have to let people go.
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The minimum wage where I live has already increased to over $10. It hasn't helped anything.
Well maybe that's not true. School kids now buy cell phones and such. And yet welfare problems remain the same. At least I would say it doesn't appear to help where it matters.0 -
Maybe this will make an impression on those who think this minimum wage increase will benefit fast food workers (or anyone else):
Also:
The Daily Signal also reports that when this is applied to some of our favorite fast food items:
A Big Mac meal increases from $5.69 to $7.82.
Wendy’s Son of a Baconator combo increases from $6.49 to $8.92.
Taco Bell’s 3 crunchy tacos combo increases from $4.59 to $6.31.
A Whopper meal increases from $6.15 to $8.46.
Subway’s turkey breast Footlong increases from $6.50 to $8.94.
Edit- the image is huge, here is the direct URL: http://static.ijreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Screen-Shot-2014-09-04-at-10.03.58-PM-1024x529.png?10ae6a
The Heritage Foundation is a highly biased source.0 -
I make a decent living.. I have a masters level education, 3 years in my field. When I started I made 11 dollars and hour...worked up a few bucks since then. I have a baby- now 6 year old when I went to college. I'm paying off my loan debt.
My husband who is a United State Marines after 10 years STILL serving, only makes about 38 grand a year WITH a family... someone who TRAINED FROM BOOTCAMP and serving, barely makes 20 grand a year starting out for the first few years, unless they marry and have a child- then it's a little more... fair for someone who is giving their life to their country, while fast food workers demand 15$? Not fair.
(And we don't receive "FREE" healthcare, its not free, we pay for it monthly and we pay taxes which pretty much pay ourselves... plus we pay for dental and almost 50% of that out of pocket for anything it doesn't cover.)
I interview, hire, train C.N.A's.. they do not make $15 an hour...some should, its a dirty job. They work with multiple agencies to make ends meet...you meet a few who demand a lot of money (15$ isn't far from my wages ) Are good C.N.A's make more than the others- bc we can depend on them-- therefore they get a "raise" bc they are worth it. We don't give everyone a raise bc they demand it.. all by the person, not group.
If any 2 jobs that I see deserve an increase-- it would be those. (teachers deserve raises if they are great also- like my daughters!)0 -
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Agree here. Everyone seems to be fighting the wrong fight here. The real culprits are the CEO's, VP's, etc. who are making MILLIONS of the backs of the work of their employees. Now don't get me wrong, I'm NOT against people making money, but when someone makes $200 million a year (how much does one really need to live?) you gotta wonder how pay is really being doled out by corporations. Remember board members and investors help to decide how people are payed regardless of where they work.I make a decent living.. I have a masters level education, 3 years in my field. When I started I made 11 dollars and hour...worked up a few bucks since then. I have a baby- now 6 year old when I went to college. I'm paying off my loan debt.
My husband who is a United State Marines after 10 years STILL serving, only makes about 38 grand a year WITH a family... someone who TRAINED FROM BOOTCAMP and serving, barely makes 20 grand a year starting out for the first few years, unless they marry and have a child- then it's a little more... fair for someone who is giving their life to their country, while fast food workers demand 15$? Not fair.
(And we don't receive "FREE" healthcare, its not free, we pay for it monthly and we pay taxes which pretty much pay ourselves... plus we pay for dental and almost 50% of that out of pocket for anything it doesn't cover.)
I interview, hire, train C.N.A's.. they do not make $15 an hour...some should, its a dirty job. They work with multiple agencies to make ends meet...you meet a few who demand a lot of money (15$ isn't far from my wages ) If any 2 jobs that I see deserve an increase-- it would be those.
We keep seeing this argument. "I don't make much money, neither should they."
Maybe instead of trying to keep others down you should be fighting for better wages too.
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Yea, I don't know about that statement. I wouldn't say I sought out the wrong job. I could have positioned myself better in life I had applied myself harder in high school and finished college, but I can't turn back time. I do something I'm passionate about and can be incredible at times when you really feel you made a difference in someone's life.If you need a second job to keep going, you are probably looking for the wrong type of job in the first place.
Like the EMT from earlier? :huh: :noway:
I wonder if she would say I chose the wrong job if he kid was in need of our services or her parents were having a massive cardiac event. Would I walk into your house and you would say "You chose the wrong career but I need your help"?
I definitely agree here... the fact that EMT's make so little for such a thankless job especially here in NYC to have to require a second job is appalling. NYC is effed up in so many ways I just can't some days.0 -
If you people really, truly, honestly believe that fast-food workers should be making $15/hr, then by all means: use your own money to start a fast food join (or ANY other business) and pay your labor force $15/hr. Until then, you have absolutely no right to demand any one individual make any more (or less) than you do, or that any business should pay their workers more, just because you believe it to be fair (or unfair).
Grow up - this is the real world.0 -
Maybe this will make an impression on those who think this minimum wage increase will benefit fast food workers (or anyone else):
Also:
The Daily Signal also reports that when this is applied to some of our favorite fast food items:
A Big Mac meal increases from $5.69 to $7.82.
Wendy’s Son of a Baconator combo increases from $6.49 to $8.92.
Taco Bell’s 3 crunchy tacos combo increases from $4.59 to $6.31.
A Whopper meal increases from $6.15 to $8.46.
Subway’s turkey breast Footlong increases from $6.50 to $8.94.
Edit- the image is huge, here is the direct URL: http://static.ijreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Screen-Shot-2014-09-04-at-10.03.58-PM-1024x529.png?10ae6a
The Heritage Foundation is a highly biased source.
As soon as I seen the source was the Heritage Foundation I knew this comment was coming. :laugh: There is such a hatred for some sources that just because someone sees the name the data is automatically suspect. Oh Noes, that is that conservative foundation. Lets all run for the hills :sad:
Just my 2 cents on the whole thing. I have worked fast food, retail, construction and gradually worked myself up into a position that paid me well sitting on my *kitten*. Which by the way is when I got obese!! I did this on a partial un-finished college education. I did this because I didn't want to keep making minimum wage. I seen opportunities and I took them. Every job I ever had I ended up in a leadership type position. Why because I wasn't afraid to learn and do more than was asked of me. I wasn't afraid to grab extra hours. I remember several part time jobs I had that I usually ended up working 40 hours simply because I was willing to work. So many of the people I worked with in these jobs found any excuse they could to get out of working. I would then get the phone call asking if I could work since so and so called in sick. I can assure you they weren't sick. How would I know, well I was out with them the night before. It is all about choices.
I do not look down on anyone that works for minimum wage. I look down on people that like to complain about their situation and just want money handed to them. I agree that minimum wage should probably be higher, but I also don't think it should be $15. People need an incentive to move on. Especially with this new generation we have coming out of High School. So many of them, if they could get a job making $15 working at a McD's or a convenience store, they would never go anywhere.
I am sorry that some adults find them in a situation where they have to work for minimum wage again. Who knows I could end up there again some day. It still does not negate the fact that these jobs that you are all talking about, are entry level jobs. They are not meant to make house payments on.0 -
I don't really see a problem with people striking to try and negotiate a better wage. That's just a negotiation tactic. I don't think they will see it a $15/hour paycheck any time soon, but they're free to ask for it. Even without organized labor, you're free to ask for a raise, look to take a job next door if they're willing to offer you a better salary package, and so on. I would have a much bigger problem if people were pushing for a nationwide $15 hour minimum wage, but realistically we aren't anywhere near that happening nor would it be good for our economy (quite to the contrary, it'd be nothing short of disastrous).
Honestly I'd leave "deserves" and what's "fair" out of it. It's business. Fast food companies are going to do what's in the best interests of their shareholders - for that matter, a publicly traded company like McDonalds has a fiduciary duty to do so. As an employee or a potential employee, you need to watch out for yourself and do what's in your own best interests. If you don't like your wage, ask for a better one or find a better job. You aren't obliged to keep showing up to work and settling for what they're currently giving you. If you can't find a better wage for your skill set, well, odds are your wage wasn't as unfair as you thought it was and if you want to move up, what you need to change is your skill set.
But at the end of the day, there will always be bottom-tier jobs. If you put your life on a trajectory where you're trying to raise a family working those jobs, you're going to have a rough go of it. But that also serves as an incentive for people to apply themselves and to avoid that trajectory through life. There is still ample opportunity in this country for people to get a good education and there are still good jobs out there for the people who do well in school and work hard.0 -
One thing people need to remember, which I mentioned in one of my earliest posts on this thread, is that you also have to take into account the value of the benefits, if any, you receive with your job. This includes not just the obvious health insurance, but paid leave time, sick time, matching contributions to retirement plans, etc. All these things combined with your salary make up your total compensation package. So a worker might get a fairly low salary but receive excellent benefits, which can make up for low pay. Government jobs are often like this, so to compare an EMT's or police officer's salary to that of an entry-level retail job is just ludicrous.
Now consider this in light of the fast food workers' demands. Not only do front-line, entry level workers usually make only minimum wage, they also rarely work more than 20 hours a week or get any of the aforementioned benefits. Imagine being very ill but not being able to call in sick because you will lose a day's pay. Imagine really wanting to take a week's vacation to spend with your kids in summer, but not being able to because it means you can't make the rent or electricity payment. Imagine wanting to work 40 hours a week but your boss won't give you the time - "company policy." Many of the benefits those of us who have progressed in our careers take for granted are simply not available to FF workers, no matter how hard they work. What might seem like an unreasonably high wage increase request on their parts isn't really so high when you consider they get none of those other benefits.
We can argue until we turn purple whether minwage jobs were or weren't meant to support families, provide the bare necessities, give teenagers extra spending money for college, and so on, but the fact remains that the majority of people in these jobs TODAY aren't teens. They're over age 25, often have families, and about a third of them have at least some college education, including earning a degree. Are there slackers who work in fast food? Of course there are, just like there are slackers in any industry, both high and low wage ones. But sadly, in today's society, working your butt off to get ahead in life doesn't always cut it anymore.0 -
I don't really see a problem with people striking to try and negotiate a better wage. That's just a negotiation tactic. I don't think they will see it a $15/hour paycheck any time soon, but they're free to ask for it. Even without organized labor, you're free to ask for a raise, look to take a job next door if they're willing to offer you a better salary package, and so on. I would have a much bigger problem if people were pushing for a nationwide $15 hour minimum wage, but realistically we aren't anywhere near that happening nor would it be good for our economy (quite to the contrary, it'd be nothing short of disastrous).
Honestly I'd leave "deserves" and what's "fair" out of it. It's business. Fast food companies are going to do what's in the best interests of their shareholders - for that matter, a publicly traded company like McDonalds has a fiduciary duty to do so. As an employee or a potential employee, you need to watch out for yourself and do what's in your own best interests. If you don't like your wage, ask for a better one or find a better job. You aren't obliged to keep showing up to work and settling for what they're currently giving you. If you can't find a better wage for your skill set, well, odds are your wage wasn't as unfair as you thought it was and if you want to move up, what you need to change is your skill set.
But at the end of the day, there will always be bottom-tier jobs. If you put your life on a trajectory where you're trying to raise a family working those jobs, you're going to have a rough go of it. But that also serves as an incentive for people to apply themselves and to avoid that trajectory through life. There is still ample opportunity in this country for people to get a good education and there are still good jobs out there for the people who do well in school and work hard.
That pretty much...scratch that.
That sums it up.0 -
Agree here. Everyone seems to be fighting the wrong fight here. The real culprits are the CEO's, VP's, etc. who are making MILLIONS of the backs of the work of their employees. Now don't get me wrong, I'm NOT against people making money, but when someone makes $200 million a year (how much does one really need to live?) you gotta wonder how pay is really being doled out by corporations. Remember board members and investors help to decide how people are payed regardless of where they work.I make a decent living.. I have a masters level education, 3 years in my field. When I started I made 11 dollars and hour...worked up a few bucks since then. I have a baby- now 6 year old when I went to college. I'm paying off my loan debt.
My husband who is a United State Marines after 10 years STILL serving, only makes about 38 grand a year WITH a family... someone who TRAINED FROM BOOTCAMP and serving, barely makes 20 grand a year starting out for the first few years, unless they marry and have a child- then it's a little more... fair for someone who is giving their life to their country, while fast food workers demand 15$? Not fair.
(And we don't receive "FREE" healthcare, its not free, we pay for it monthly and we pay taxes which pretty much pay ourselves... plus we pay for dental and almost 50% of that out of pocket for anything it doesn't cover.)
I interview, hire, train C.N.A's.. they do not make $15 an hour...some should, its a dirty job. They work with multiple agencies to make ends meet...you meet a few who demand a lot of money (15$ isn't far from my wages ) If any 2 jobs that I see deserve an increase-- it would be those.
We keep seeing this argument. "I don't make much money, neither should they."
Maybe instead of trying to keep others down you should be fighting for better wages too.
A.C.E. Certified Group Fitness and Personal Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
Tell you what. You take away the CEO and VPs that guided a company into a multi-billion dollar entity, or even keeps them at that level ('cause they're not paying salaries of hundreds of millions a year unless they are at least that successful) and replace them with those willing to take a couple hundred grand or so. See how quickly that company fails, how many people are then out of work.
There's a reason they are paid what they are - it's called demand. If you could find people to do those jobs just as well who would work for significantly less, then they would be replaced. Just like I would be replaced if my company found someone that could do my job as well or better for less.
You could just as easily say employees are making money on the backs of company leadership. Without a somewhat successful company, there are no jobs for those employees. No salary. No raise. No benefits. Let the employee go out and start and run their own company if they want. Or if the leaderships' salaries are offensive, let them go work for a smaller, less successful business.0 -
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Today I learned that unskilled workers shouldn't be allowed to survive. Maybe it would be simpler to just execute high school dropouts and the bottom 10% of each graduating class...
No, we should reinstitute slavery or at the very least, indentured servitude for those who can't achieve a certain skill or education level. After all, it worked so well pre-1860.
On another tangent, slavery is not dead as we're lead to believe. Human Trafficking is a $9.5 billion industry in the US alone, as of 2012. There were 20-30 million slaves worldwide as of 2012, with only 1-2% ever being rescued. About 70% are women and children. That's quite disturbing.0 -
The reality of the situation is, minimum wage was a social institution that was constructed to make sure that people could afford food, shelter, and other basic necessities.
If I were to work full time at minimum wage (I'm Canadian, so bear that in mind, since we make more than Americans), I would be making approximately $1650 a month before taxes.
I'm a university graduate (woop-dee-do) with a dual honours degree -- I owe, approximately $30,000 in student loans because I do come from a place of privilege (ie. the middle class) and my parents were able to finance a portion of my tuition. If I didn't have a car, and therefore the expenses that come with it (insurance, maintenance, gas), with a roommate, I can afford to live on minimum wage and re-pay my debt (over the course of the next 10-12 years that is).
The reality is, that having an education (at least in the Canadian economy) is simply a great way to coat yourself in debt. If I were working a full time minimum wage position, I'd probably be doing okay, but the reality is, they actually don't exist in the majority of sectors, including fast food. In the past two years, I haven't been to a single full time interview, yet I put out over 100 resumes per month. The rate of unemployment among those 16-30 is twice that of the general population in Canada -- which is a nice way of saying, look at my fancy piece of paper and the complete lack of jobs to apply it to.
I am incredibly fortunate that I've found a high paying part time job, I make what for most people would be a staggering wage (approximately $20 an hour) however, I work on a contract basis, part time, and often go 4-6 weeks between contracts. I have no medical benefits, no life insurance, nothing. It's the only job I can find right now, because I can't sacrifice the availability I give that job, for 10 hours at a part time fast food or retail job (both of which I have experience in) and still pay my bills.
I am all for a raise in minimum wage to meet the standard of living that is considered adequate; pay as you go phone (you do need one to hold a job), enough money to cover bus fare, shelter, adequate nutritional food, and a small amount for health care (because while it's often classed as free, try filling a prescription without additional coverage and not gagging at the cost) and I do actually believe that minimum wage should vary from area to area; living in a city like Vancouver or Toronto, your liveable wage is higher than living in medium sized towns yet most people struggling don't have the financial capital to move -- I certainly couldn't come up with first and last right now.
I don't expect minimum wage to reach $15 anytime in the near future (or even my lifetime potentially), but is an increase due for those who are born into situations from which they can't escape because they don't have the family financial capital of the middle class? Hell yes. It's fine and dandy to sit at you computer and say that the people who don't have post-secondary education did it to themselves, but the reality is, many didn't. Minimum wage should increase gradually over time to meet things like inflation and give small and large business owners time to adjust; even if we saw increases of $0.25 each year for the next eight years to bring minimum wage up by a total of $2, the people who truly have to live off of it because there is no other option would be able to sustain themselves slightly better and maybe things like a college degree wouldn't be so laughable.0 -
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I don't eat Chinese food, but we have a few Indian restaurants like that. A friend of mine worked in one. All the Indians who worked there were related to each other. And they don't allow the white waiters and waitresses they hire to keep their tips -- they take them and distribute them among each other. (They do pay more than the server minimum wage in order to get away with this, but they also don't tell patrons what they're doing.)
On another tangent, slavery is not dead as we're lead to believe. Human Trafficking is a $9.5 billion industry in the US alone, as of 2012. There's 20-30 million slaves worldwide. About 70% are women and children. That's quite disturbing.
Ever wonder how in nearly every town in America there's a Chinese restaurant staffed by Asian people who barely speak English?
Those are not business owners who've come to this country to start a new life. Yeah those are modern day slaves.0 -
Do you happen to have a pension or any other investments tied to the stock market?If MW increases, the price of goods and services will also increase. Nobody will actually have more money because they will be paying more for the things they buy. My prediction would be that if fast food employees got 15 an hour the price of food would go up to make sure the company doesn't lose money. That 2$ burger will 6$ or more. Who is going to pay that? Fast food restaurants will lose money because people won't pay the higher prices and then the fast food restaurant will start firing workers because they don't have the business to warrant that number of employees.
So Mcdonald's quarterly profit margins go from 19% to 15%. Boo frickin hoo. The CEO's still a billionaire.
I'm pretty sure McDonald's is publicly traded and its profit margin affects things like how much the stock is worth and dividends, which you might rely on one day and many people currently do rely on.
It isn't just about CEO pay. These corporations have stockholders who expect results.0
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