But aren't you sort of assuming that everyone is going to "move up"? We can't ALL be management/middle management/high level employees. There is always going to be a "lowest level" of work in society, otherwise we'd all be managers not producing/selling/providing any services at all.
There will always be people, whether through their own fault, or due to no fault of their own, that are either not smart enough, not healthy enough, not motivated enough, or simply not lucky enough, to "move up". Not to mention that there is no room for *everyone* to move up! Do we care enough about them to treat them with dignity? People wonder, for example, why fast food workers are often inept or cranky - maybe because they are paid and treated like crap, by both their employer and the public? When we pay people less than what it takes to live with dignity and not have to rely so much on social programs (which, incidentally, are often bemoaned by the very people unwilling to even consider increases in minimum wage! :banghead: ), we devalue them. We say to them, "you are not worth my extra few cents."
You are right that not everyone will move up to upper or middle management. But the standard (based on most places I've worked) is a raise after 90 days, and an annual review/raise after that, just for doing your job.
I'll have to defer to others with specific fast food industry knowledge, but at the theater, anyone could move up if they met a few qualifications. We didn't have to wait for an opening. There could be 12 box office attendants working on a given shift - some of them might be working the snack bar or cleaning trash but they still get the box office pay.
You had to work there 90 days to become a cashier, and prove you could make change. You had to be available to work any shift. You had to have a good attendance record and no disciplinary actions.
30 days later, you could work in the box office if you continued to not have disciplinary actions, had good attendance, and an accurate cash register history. (Less than a $2 variance per shift)
You were being paid more because you were trained to do more things, so they had more choices of where they could use you. By the time you reached the box office, the pay was more than double minimum wage.
There were a couple people I remember that preferred to just clean the trash since they didn't have to deal with the public, and turned down chances to move up. Do you think they should be paid what the box office people were making? They are the ones who should stay at the lowest end, since they are choosing to be there!
I still stand behind what I've said earlier though, that I don't think raising the pay in fast food is the right answer, I think it will push the unskilled worker out of the job market because skilled workers will want their jobs.
I think the answer lies somewhere between changing the public assistance system in favor of those who work but can't make ends meet, and offering training to help people get the skills needed to get out of the minimum wage fast food jobs.
I'm not cold-hearted, I just think the domino effect of this proposition is going to end up hurting these workers more than it helps them.
