Fast Food Workers strike to DOUBLE wages.

[bluewraith]

Fast food workers strike to double current wages - NY Daily News

They are also demanding a union.

So.. let me get this straight. You took a minimum wage, part time job. You do not want to further your education, or look for more profitable work. Now, you are demanding $15 per hour, and a union? There is so much I want to say about this, but since it is a family friendly forum I'll refrain.

 

[Mark 1911]

Fast food is way too pricey already and I don't need it.

 

[chraland51]

$15 to flip a burger!?!?!? Not hardly worth it. What will that do to the price of the food? If they get a union in New York or wherever this is occurring, how long will it be until it spreads around the country. McDonald's was never intended to pay a living wage except to their managers. They were always intended for college kids or as part time jobs for some extra cash. I am really tired of people like this making demands. Their time and effort is just not worth anything close to what they are demanding.

 

[Mike Elzinga]

Where did the "further your education" comment come from, and how it is connected to this argument?

Why should they be refused the same right to unionize that everyone else has?

Why is this particular class or people not allowed to want and work towards a better life for themselves?

i hope they get it

 

[bluewraith]

Where did the "further your education" comment come from, and how it is connected to this argument?

Why should they be refused the same right to unionize that everyone else has?

Why is this particular class or people not allowed to want and work towards a better life for themselves?

i hope they get it

You're right, the furthering education comment was not included in the article, but assumed by me. They want to unionize? Sure, go for it. They want to get paid $15/hr at an entry level part time job, where college grads who have spend THOUSANDS of dollars and YEARS of work to earn the same amount? That is what I have issue with.

 

[Mike Elzinga]

Then don't support that business if you aren't willing to pay the prices they charge

 

[Mike Elzinga]

The fact that 1 person attended college does not make them a better person or more due a fulfilled life than someone who didn't.

 

[Miller Tyme]

I say let them unionize, and when there fast food joint goes under due to be non competitive they can see what it is like to be unempolyed

 

[Mike Elzinga]

I totally agree, let them unionize the same way many factory and mill workers have and then let the markets decide. If the market won't bear that cost then they can be on the street and if the market will bear it, then we will have elevated an entire class of people who now need less government aid and have more financial resources to spend in a trade based economy.

 

[ViperJock]

Let them do it. The law of unintended consequences will play out. Fewer people will eat at McDonalds, the obesity rate will drop, the number of heart attacks will decrease and our health care will get cheaper! Woohoo!

 

[2ADMNLOVER]

The fact that 1 person attended college does not make them a better person or more due a fulfilled life than someone who didn't.

THIS ^ . I've met plenty of " educated idiots " with some abc's behind their name that were just plain life stupid outside of an office .

 

[2ADMNLOVER]

To me, incidents like these are a symptom of a larger problem and good old fashioned greed has everything to do with it .

I couldn't find the info / charts this morning but if you research the the salary / pay from the 40's till now , between the ceo's / average floor worker , you'll see the disparity has become ridiculous .


In a lot of fields , the pay of folks in "middle management" on up to the top has risen steadily , much more and faster than the folks that perform the labor that actually allows the companies to function .


With the economy being what it is , people are getting sick of being " squeezed " and we're starting to see it .

 

[BehindBlueI's]

The audacity of some people, trying to get a living wage for their labor, to make enough money they aren't on the public dole or sponging off family.

Communism must be right around the corner.

 

[MrsGungho]

$15 to flip a burger!?!?!? Not hardly worth it. What will that do to the price of the food? If they get a union in New York or wherever this is occurring, how long will it be until it spreads around the country. McDonald's was never intended to pay a living wage except to their managers. They were always intended for college kids or as part time jobs for some extra cash. I am really tired of people like this making demands. Their time and effort is just not worth anything close to what they are demanding.

Know of any managers at McDonalds? The ones I know make right at $9 an hour.. that is NOT a living wage anymore.

 

[The Keymaster]

Does this mean that we will soon be importing fast food from China? Perhaps we can use NAFTA and move all fast food production to Mexico.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

$15 to flip a burger!?!?!? Not hardly worth it. What will that do to the price of the food?

Labor costs, inclusive of all non-wage layouts as well (worker's comp payments, SSI, etc) is about 25% of a fast food restaurant's cost. At the top end, a 99 cent McDouble would go all the way up to $1.24. In reality less, because the labor costs include manager's rates, administration costs, etc. Probably about $1.15 or so, really.

 

[92ThoStro]

Yep I know a manager at a McDonalds and this person makes 9.30. I hope fast food unionizes.

By the way, McDonalds does not flip burgers, they are clam shell grills. So they get 15 dollars to push a button not flip a burger if you want to be technical.

I don't see eye to eye with the entry level job argument either. Factory work and manufacturing is also an entry level job. There were a lot more factory workers back then. They are ahead of the others. In fact assembly work at McDonalds and working the assembly line at a plant is not going to be all that different. McDonalds is modeled off of an assembly scheme for efficiency.

Hopefully.they stick with it and get things changed.

 

[teddy12b]

This will be interesting to see how it plays out as a case study for creating new unions. On the one hand I really don't have a problem with fast food workers wanting to make a better life for themselves, but at the same time most people don't chose the drive through as a career choice and instead "end up" in those jobs because they lack having a better option. People are just like wild game and will normally take the path of least resistance.

The college debate gets old as well. I value college and I see the point to it, but my degrees are in business and engineering. For people who get a general studies or english lit degree then they've probably wasted their time and money unless it was something they just wanted to do. I have a Masters degree and my younger sister in law has a year and a half tech school certificate in cosmotology is going to make way more money than I am this year. Unlike most people though I'm not jealous of her, I'm happy for her and she busts her butt to make her money and it's something to be really proud of. She developed a skill that's highly valued and has a loyal client base. All this just goes to show that the idea of college from the old days isn't really relevant in today's world because what's important is having an actual skill.

Anytime I go through a drive through the people are working hard and getting paid dirt cheap wages. That sucks, but let's face the facts that those jobs are also dumbed down to the point where an 18 yr old high school kid can be the manager and run the show. It's just raw thoughtless work, but if these people can demand a higher wage that's within reason for their labor then good for them. How these changes effect the price of the food being sold will be an interesting thing to watch and I'm especially interested in seeing how the markets will react to the increase in costs.

On another note I'd like to see how the Obama's are going to treat this. On the one hand I can see them praising the unions, but the first lady has also been at war with the fast food industry for unhealthy food. Anyone remember back when McDonalds got a wiaver to get out of Obama care and then a month and half later annouced that they were going to hire 50,000 people? Fast food is big business with their hands in politics.

 

[tetsujin79]

This thread illustrates a couple of interesting things... On one hand, we see a backlash against higher education. Why? Because for the last 20 to 30 years, we've had the idea that to get ahead, you need education to succeed pounded into us? Considering the decimation of the trades and the public's (you AND me) burning (read: brainwashed) desire for ever newer & cheaper goods that have run jobs out of the country, we've self0fulfilled this prophecy.

We can also see the annoyance with what has been termed "credentialism" by those of us who have found highly educated idiots puttering about and getting in the way of our lives. Useless degrees as far as the eye can see. When's the last time you heard lots of kids excited for STEM or saw any cultural support for STEM? The space shuttle got mothballed, and all anyone remembers is that a Toyota truck, that you can buy right now with a low APR, towed it. And yet our overlords ponder our last place finishes against countries that support that kind of education and all the wise we the people nod our heads.

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

The employees (as a class) are simply stupid children who feel entitled to "more" just because there are others who make more, but who fail to understand or care that others do more valuable work, and money isn't infinite. To give in to them would be insane. That would send any such restaurant to bankruptcy faster than these obamacare communists are doing to the nation. These people would be out on the street and on welfare soon enough, having learned nothing, probably protesting a lack of jobs and places to eat.

If those jobs were worth $15/hr, they'd already be making that, but competition dictates that they're paid what they're willing to work for, plus the premium coerced by our magnanimous government. As the minimum wage is increased, the number of jobs at that wage necessarily decreases, since there is only so much money to budget for wages. The money, as always, comes from the customer, and few if any will pay more than double for the same thing served by the same surly staff.

I notice the communist agitators have a website already in place, do excuse me if I doubt this is spontaneous. Just a way to break down anything our society has to offer and spread the misery.