Fast Food Workers Striking?!?!?

The biggest part of running a business is the labor cost. Artificially raising minimum wage will drive the product cost up. Give them $15 an hour and the price of anything they sell will double as well. 0 sum gain. Go to school and get a better job. If you only work a min. wage job you probably qualify for grants and loans too

Here's a bizarre idea coming from a silly girl: reward results, not effort.

*mind blown*

:flowerforyou:

Wait wait wait...that is too simple of a concept. It must be wrong.

Read my comment above. If you want to pay them based on results McDonalds is going to owe them a HUGE raise.

These employees are the backbone of their operation and the entire reason they function. They are essential. Without them not $1 gets made. Given the choice between losing the CEO of the company and losing the front line workers the board would choose to get rid of the CEO every time.

They're people working hard and asking to be paid a reasonable wage. They aren't looking for a handout. They're trying to get off public assistance. They are your neighbors and they serve you on a regular basis.

Maybe some of you should stop looking down on them as a cheap way of feeling better about yourselves.

That's a whole lot of assumptions you are making there on a huge population.

I really wish people would stop throwing in the "working hard" thing, honestly have no idea what that has to do with anything.

And no, they don't serve me regularly. Fast food is gross (except for Chick-fil-a)

So my question to you though is why are you at your keyboard right now and not at one of the protest?

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:

Couldn't of said it better myself!!!

Does anyone complaining about this have a rudimentary understanding of economics or human resources? Jobs pay what they're valued at. If McDonald's doesn't think you're worth $15/hr, you're not worth $15/hr, if these people are worth $15 why don't they go find a job that pays them $15/hr?? Because they can't, minimum effort, minimum education, minimum motivation get you minimum wage. Instead we say "golly this person wants to make $15/hr, why don't we just MAKE mcDonald's pay them $15/hr? even though they're not worth it"....then McDonald's fires all of their worker except for a few cooks and a manager, and replaces them with robots and then we get to hear about "greedy big business replacing humans with machines" Honestly I swear, read a book sometime! I recommend Atlas Shrugs or Wealth of Nations.

*thumbs up* For the guy who broke it down into layman's terms.

I just did the math and at a full 40 hours a week at $7.50/hour if you're a single person and need a 1 bedroom apartment, you can live off that no problem.

Not sure where you live but a one bedroom apartment here is anywhere between 1000-1800 dollars a month (admittedly I live in one of those areas with a ridiculously high cost of living). If you're making ~15,000 a year you're hardly covering rent alone.

I got a very nice apartment for $425/month all utilities but electric and phone were included. My electric bill was never higher than $20/month and my phone was a cell phone for $30/month. It wasn't large by any means but it was me and my son. No cable, no internet.

I pay $600 for a small one bedroom, no heat or lights in a bad neighbor hood. You've got it made. You have no right to complain about what others are being paid and that they should be able to afford necessities on $7.50/hr.

Did I say I was living there now? No. I was living there when I was making $9/hour with a kid and making ends meet. I thankfully wasn't paying daycare but I did have to pay for diapers and wipes and laundry and I made it work. No, you don't have the kind of money to go out to eat or go have a drink or pay a babysitter so you can go out with friends or go out and buy a steak but you make it work. I'm not going to say how much I make now but I will say it's not much more and I have 2 kids and rent that's $200 more and a baby daddy that ran out and can't be found to pay support and because it's a bigger place a bigger electric bill and daycare costs now. I'm still doing it on my own with my job because I went out and found one that's paying more. I don't know where some of you are living that say no one is hiring because there's always a company looking to get rid of someone if the right person comes along. It doesn't hurt to try.

What do you consider "trying?" For 4 months I filled out every single application and handed out every single resume I had to companies that weren't even hiring. In many places the front desk staff came to know me personally. And yet I still ended up in a retail position. There literally were and still are very very very jobs here.

How far did you go to look? I work 45 mins away from where I live because that's where I could find a better price on rent.

The wage on Fast Food should be low, that means that it will be an employment for young people, 16-24 be it school leavers or college goers. A staff turnover to let them all have a shot. It's not a job you're supposed to stay on for life, and if you do treat it as then accept the wage. it's manual and requires no skills, yes it's not the most pleasant work but again, you are entitled to leave and seek a better job, and even prompted to, there are hundreds of young people that would love to work it instead.

Time to tick someone off.

Irritates me a little they are striking. Fast food has always been known as a minimum wage job. That is why it use to always be high school students working it when in school. It is not meant to be a career job. All these people complaining about not making enough AT A FAST FOOD place should be happy they even have a job because there are tons of unemployed people who would take their job OR they should try to get a better job and better themselves rather then working a brainless job and going nowhere but complaining.

On the news today i saw a lady who said she needed more money because she was a single mom working at McDonalds. While I respect single parents and their struggles to support their kids. But she needed more money because she was a single mom and pregnant with #2. Seriously if you are already having money problems......USE PROTECTION why be dumb and have a second kid if you are not making ends meet financially. Reminds of the movie Idiocracy.

Oh boy. I love when the "don't have kids if you're poor" argument comes up.

Well, it worked for me. I took advantage of the educational and health resources that are offered to every high schooler so that I could actually reach the age of 17 without becoming pregnant and so that I could graduate high school. And then my husband put me through college by serving his country, then I put him through college with the help of the veterans' benefits he earned by serving his country, and now two poor kids turned themselves into middle-class adults by opting out of the breeding game.

But somehow, magically, all the other poor people have had that option taken away from them?

That is awesome that you two were able to improve yourselves. i think the military is an awesome way to help people. The college help and all is great. I am trying to see if the airforce is an option for my cousin. he is 16 and struggling. I know he can not get into college right away and lives in the country where there are no jobs. The military will also help him get away from a broken home.

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:

As an EMT (volunteer, not paid), I have to support the medic here. She went through intensive training and delivers care that in some instances makes the difference between life and death. Yeah, I think she (and her peers) should be making enough as a medic to not have to worry about needing to get 3 other jobs just to survive or provide for a family.

Most squads I know run 12 hour shifts and most medics I know pull 2 - 3 shifts at a time. At some point, something's got to give from the lack of sleep trying to juggle that. I wouldn't want myself or my loved ones to be the one on the litter (stretcher) when that happens...

My guess would be that those at the bottom run of McDonald's and are there for the duration of their careers probably don't have the skills to succeed in other roles. Do the lack of skills come from lack of aptitude? Lack of exposure to those skills? I'm not sure. But if you're making $8/hr, that's $320/week at a 40 hour week, before taxes. It's $1280 a month, before taxes. I'm not a CPA, but I'm guessing it's less than $975 net after taxes, for the month. Good luck providing for yourself or your family at that point.

As far as fast food goes, I'm sure I'm going to get kicked here, but maybe we need to re-evaluate why folks "feel entitled" to have a $0.99 value menu? In a perfect utopian world, if a "fair market price" was charged for the goods and services, then a fair wage would be easier to defend. If a value meal is "all you can afford" maybe financial priorities need to be re-evaluated.

(On the flip side, if this WAS the case, I'm sure Starbuck's baristas would be making more than they make too. $5 for a hot drink? Really?)

woahohohoho

I worked in the service industry in high school. So this isn't an elitist, "us vs them" viewpoint by any means, and it insults my intelligence that you would assume such. Then *poof* I'm a college student. Guess what, that *poof* isn't luck or a handout or me sitting around waiting for someone to give me a bucket o' cash. This is hard work and aspirations.

Typically I wouldn't make this personal, because anecdotal evidence is useless. But chose to use yourself as an example, soooo...

Ok. Do tell. You went to college. Was it because:


A. Your parents paid for it
B. Student loans paid for it (government assistance)
C. You earned the money through your service industry job


Because A is luck, B is a handout, and C is nearly impossible.

So which is it?

Everyone loves to take all the credit for their accomplishments. They tend to forget all the help they received along the way.

How is B a handout? A loan is something you pay back with interest.

I just did the math and at a full 40 hours a week at $7.50/hour if you're a single person and need a 1 bedroom apartment, you can live off that no problem.

Not sure where you live but a one bedroom apartment here is anywhere between 1000-1800 dollars a month (admittedly I live in one of those areas with a ridiculously high cost of living). If you're making ~15,000 a year you're hardly covering rent alone.

I got a very nice apartment for $425/month all utilities but electric and phone were included. My electric bill was never higher than $20/month and my phone was a cell phone for $30/month. It wasn't large by any means but it was me and my son. No cable, no internet.

I pay $600 for a small one bedroom, no heat or lights in a bad neighbor hood. You've got it made. You have no right to complain about what others are being paid and that they should be able to afford necessities on $7.50/hr.

Did I say I was living there now? No. I was living there when I was making $9/hour with a kid and making ends meet. I thankfully wasn't paying daycare but I did have to pay for diapers and wipes and laundry and I made it work. No, you don't have the kind of money to go out to eat or go have a drink or pay a babysitter so you can go out with friends or go out and buy a steak but you make it work. I'm not going to say how much I make now but I will say it's not much more and I have 2 kids and rent that's $200 more and a baby daddy that ran out and can't be found to pay support and because it's a bigger place a bigger electric bill and daycare costs now. I'm still doing it on my own with my job because I went out and found one that's paying more. I don't know where some of you are living that say no one is hiring because there's always a company looking to get rid of someone if the right person comes along. It doesn't hurt to try.

What do you consider "trying?" For 4 months I filled out every single application and handed out every single resume I had to companies that weren't even hiring. In many places the front desk staff came to know me personally. And yet I still ended up in a retail position. There literally were and still are very very very jobs here.

How far did you go to look? I work 45 mins away from where I live because that's where I could find a better price on rent.

Without means of transportation I had to look within city limits. See, my two college educations left me with debt so large I can't afford a car and there is no inter-city bus or metro to take me anywhere, and I'm not going to walk 2+ hrs to get to the next community each day. I did consider the option of moving to another city but that also takes money.

Does anyone complaining about this have a rudimentary understanding of economics or human resources? Jobs pay what they're valued at. If McDonald's doesn't think you're worth $15/hr, you're not worth $15/hr, if these people are worth $15 why don't they go find a job that pays them $15/hr?? Because they can't, minimum effort, minimum education, minimum motivation get you minimum wage. Instead we say "golly this person wants to make $15/hr, why don't we just MAKE mcDonald's pay them $15/hr? even though they're not worth it"....then McDonald's fires all of their worker except for a few cooks and a manager, and replaces them with robots and then we get to hear about "greedy big business replacing humans with machines" Honestly I swear, read a book sometime! I recommend Atlas Shrugs or Wealth of Nations.

*thumbs up* For the guy who broke it down into layman's terms.

IMO fire all those workers and hire people who actually want a job. There are plenty of people out there will to take any job they can get.

Well, it worked for me. I took advantage of the educational and health resources that are offered to every high schooler so that I could actually reach the age of 17 without becoming pregnant and so that I could graduate high school. And then my husband put me through college by serving his country, then I put him through college with the help of the veterans' benefits he earned by serving his country, and now two poor kids turned themselves into middle-class adults by opting out of the breeding game.

But somehow, magically, all the other poor people have had that option taken away from them?

That is awesome that you two were able to improve yourselves. i think the military is an awesome way to help people. The college help and all is great. I am trying to see if the airforce is an option for my cousin. he is 16 and struggling. I know he can not get into college right away and lives in the country where there are no jobs. The military will also help him get away from a broken home.

Oh, you just reminded me of a young, poor friend of ours. (all 3 of us are from "broken homes", whatever that means in this day and age!) He graduated high school, didn't do so well at college, and has been faffing around for a couple of years, waiting for everything to be perfect before he signed up for the armed forces. I think he finally got the message that waiting for perfect = fine, just stay poor and he finally signed on the dotted line.

They call it the poverty draft, but if you're clever, you use it as an elevator to the next level, where you use your wits to keep improving your lot. Or, you get killed, but then you don't have to worry about feeding yourself, do you?

Life is hard. Wear a helmet.

I just don't get it, McDonald's looks at the position and says "Okay, this mcjob requires a very low set of skills, BUT at $7.25/hr we can afford to pay someone who would be otherwise unemployable to do this job and still generate value to the company" So McDonald's has a job fair, Sally the Striker comes in and says "hi, i'd like a job" McDonald's says "great, it pays $7.25/hr", McDonald's says "you're hired", later Sally says "hey this isn't a living wage, I want $15/hr" McDonald's says "that would screw everything up, then I would have to give everyone else a raise as well, since I can't have the fry girl making more than the manager, no I'm sorry you're only worth $7.25 to us" then Sally strikes citing unfair pay since it's not a "living wage" Newsflash: the cost of an apartment, the cost of food, of water, of clothing is not germane to a wage. Jobs pay only what they're valued at in the marketplace, that's it.

Well said! :drinker:

woahohohoho

I worked in the service industry in high school. So this isn't an elitist, "us vs them" viewpoint by any means, and it insults my intelligence that you would assume such. Then *poof* I'm a college student. Guess what, that *poof* isn't luck or a handout or me sitting around waiting for someone to give me a bucket o' cash. This is hard work and aspirations.

Typically I wouldn't make this personal, because anecdotal evidence is useless. But chose to use yourself as an example, soooo...

Ok. Do tell. You went to college. Was it because:


A. Your parents paid for it
B. Student loans paid for it (government assistance)
C. You earned the money through your service industry job


Because A is luck, B is a handout, and C is nearly impossible.

So which is it?

Everyone loves to take all the credit for their accomplishments. They tend to forget all the help they received along the way.

BS question. I fit into the B category I am paying over $50k back in loans. That is no hand out. And i am working my *kitten* off to stay ahead of my bills. Do you realize that loans are not all government loans? Mine are through Wells Fargo. Stafford loans and what not are just regulated at lower rates for students but you pick who you take your loan through.

Dude. Best GIF ever. I miss the hamburgalar.