Fast Food Workers Want $15/hr

[Charlie09]

Actually, the comment was about ignorance. That you misunderstood requires no explanation. :floorlaugh:

Seriously, I think the $15 figure is a negotiating point for most strikers; it isn't necessarily what they expect to get. If you split the difference between the national minimum wage ($7.25) and $15, you get about $11, which sounds right to me.

No, it wasn't about ignorance, it was an indirect slam on the way Americans believe in Capitalism. If you're going to slam, at least be honest about it!

 

[Charlie09]

There are over a billion people in China and a billion more in India.

That's a lot of people who will go to work at less than minimum wage before any American gets a job.

IN China
IN India

Are we now giving H1-B visas for fast food employees?

 

[Nova]

No, we now have technology that enables corporations to outsource most jobs to countries with lower wages. What is left is the McDonald's drive-thru.

And, hence, the strike...

***

And with that thought, I am going to take a break from the Bitter Betty (not a reference to you personally, Charlie) thread. It's too depressing here, even un-American.

 

[Charlie09]

Nope, no bitter Betty here. I think everyone starts low and has the ability to work their way up to whatever they want whether it's a small business owner who struggles to pay their bills, or a college professor...we should all work hard for what we have.

 

[Lucky 1]

Seriously, I think the $15 figure is a negotiating point for most strikers; it isn't necessarily what they expect to get. If you split the difference between the national minimum wage ($7.25) and $15, you get about $11, which sounds right to me.

THANK YOU! Someone gets it.

How many people on this thread have ever tried to negotiate for something? Do you start at the price you want or do you start higher, give them room to chew you down?

If you want 10$ or 11$/hour, you surely don't start there.

I worked for a small business for 6 years. We had five employees. When times got tough, the Boss cut all our hours and went out and bought himself a Porsche...... THAT is how it rolls in America. And if you are one of the Porsche owners, the rest of us scum simply aren't willing to work hard enough.

And by-the-way, he got pi$$ed when I wouldn't complement his new car.

 

[Gardenlady]

We are entitled to what the Constitution says, which is Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness. We are entitled to work towards acquiring the things we need to survive. We are not entitled to any material things that we have not earned or acquired ourselves, and that includes healthcare, food, or whatever. Each of us is responsible for supporting ourselves.

As I said before, I worked for years in retail and started out at minimum wage. I advanced rapidly from an entry level folding and restocking position to management. What I did differently than my lazy, whiny coworkers was WORK and show up for work. Not everyone was lazy and the ones that weren't, the ones that showed up and did their jobs well were rewarded the same as I was. The ones that didn't maybe got to keep their jobs but they didn't get the pay increases and the advancements that would propel them out of their low income situation.

The majority of the low skilled people that I worked with didn't deserve the pay they received or were only deserving of the pay they received. I'm just stating the facts as they relate to my situation.

My husband supervises entry level employees and has the same story to tell. The answer to making higher wages is to work harder and more consistently and increase your value to the company. It is not the company's responsibility to make sure you make what you think you deserve. It is the company's responsibility to make a profit.

I am so sick of people having child after child after child that they can't afford to house, feed, clothe, and educate and then complaining about it.

My brother-in-law and his wife are in their late twenties with 3 kids. The wife graduated with a double major and a 4.0 gpa. The husband didn't quite graduate because they started having kids and he went to work. The wife stays home with the kids and the husband goes off to his minimum wage job. They collect WIC, foodstamps, subsidized housing, free healthcare, the husband's parents bought them their first car and then bought them a van when they had too many kids to fit in the car. They eat out a lot, have a huge flatscreen TV, a 1000 dollar bed. And they want at least 2 more kids on somebody else's dime. My brother-in-law is in the low income situation that he is in because of his bad choices but he is not the one paying for his choices is he? He is living a middle class lifestyle that he is not entitle to.

So, focusing on your first paragraph, which answered the question I posed, am I reading you right when I conclude that so long as a child is born "free", grows up, and has some ability to work - then they must and should, but if the work they are able to get cannot feed, shelter, and cover medical expenses for themselves and any dependents, you are okay if they happen to die or fall ill due to hunger, exposure, or sickness they cannot pay for treatment of?

Because while your first paragraph sounds like a great set of talking points for, say, a Cato Institute or Objectivist Society round table, it says nothing at all to me about the real world, living in a civilized society, and being sure that fellow human beings aren't living in misery.

 

[Charlie09]

THANK YOU! Someone gets it.

How many people on this thread have ever tried to negotiate for something? Do you start at the price you want or do you start higher, give them room to chew you down?

If you want 10$ or 11$/hour, you surely don't start there.

I worked for a small business for 6 years. We had five employees. When times got tough, the Boss cut all our hours and went out and bought himself a Porsche.....:twocents:. THAT is how it rolls in America. And if you are one of the Porsche owners, the rest of us scum simply aren't willing to work hard enough.

And by-the-way, he got pi$$ed when I wouldn't complement his new car.

That's so weird, I have worked for more than one company where the owners have gone without salary to get through a rough spot.

 

[Gardenlady]

That's so weird, I have worked for more than one company where the owners have gone without salary to get through a rough spot.

How do they do that without taking a salary? Maybe because, unlike the poor and working poor, they have the privilege of having access to lines of credit to help float them? Or in the past they made enough to put some money aside for such a situation, whereas someone making less and living paycheck to paycheck does not?

Business owners, large or small, have access and privilege that the working and lower classes to not, to help them through such a situation. They are lucky. Not everyone is.

 

[Nova]

Nope, no bitter Betty here. I think everyone starts low and has the ability to work their way up to whatever they want whether it's a small business owner who struggles to pay their bills, or a college professor...we should all work hard for what we have.

Those are great values during an expanding economy such as those we had in the 40s, 50s and 60s (when we were the only modernized economy still standing after WWII) and in the 80s (when we borrowed our way to economic health).

But the same values aren't so helpful in the 1890s, late 20s/early 30s, and the last decade or so when we are in a severe downturn.

What is the point of new skills and hard work when there are far more workers than jobs?

 

[Elley Mae]

At restaurants owned by the company, over three quarters of our crew employees work part-time, averaging slightly less than 18 hours per week.

For the crew at company-owned restaurants, nearly 80% of which are hourly part-time employees, we offer four choices for health insurance.

Although we do not have the ability to direct franchisees on the wages and benefits they provide to their employees, we did insist that our insurance carrier make available the same plans to our franchisees.

http://news.mcdonalds.com/Corporate/manual-releases/2010/McDonald-s-and-Health-Care-Senate-Committee

This is the only think I could find so far that shows numbers of employees and hours they work. It appears that over 3/4 of people working for Mc D's work less then 20 hours.

I worked fast food when I was still in High School and I never looked at that job as full time or any thing I could make a living at. Of course minimum wage was 1.60 an hour then and I was making 1.66

 

[Karmady]

Nope, no bitter Betty here. I think everyone starts low and has the ability to work their way up to whatever they want whether it's a small business owner who struggles to pay their bills, or a college professor...we should all work hard for what we have.

Right. What's to be bitter about? Bitterness implies dissatisfaction with current conditions. I have no problem with the wages currently being paid at fast food franchises. jmo

 

[Sonya610]

This is the only think I could find so far that shows numbers of employees and hours they work. It appears that over 3/4 of people working for Mc D's work less then 20 hours.

The Obamacare legislation had a BIG impact on many large restaurant chains and franchisees. Bottom line is unless the government is PRINTING MONEY they will run out of it, and that is exactly what is happening.

Let's look at the ever-growing list of restaurants and hospitality companies that have announced in the past year that they would be cutting back on employee hours specifically to avoid the damaging effects of ObamaCare:

Applebee's
Numerous CiCi's locations
Numerous Denny's locations
Papa John's
Regal Cinemas
Wendy's
White Castle

- See more at: http://www.cnsnews.com/mrctv-blog/n...ts-are-cutting-hours-due#sthash.NHcCb5fQ.dpuf

 

[Nova]

Of course Big Business will have to be dragged into the future, kicking and screaming. What did you expect?

 

[Sonya610]

Of course Big Business will have to be dragged into the future, kicking and screaming. What did you expect?

And you think all franchisee owners are "big business"??? Uhhhh....many are very small businesses that barely stay above water.

 

[Nova]

And you think all franchisee owners are "big business"??? Uhhhh....many are very small businesses that barely stay above water.

Sonya, I don't know if small businesses are having trouble or not. Last I heard their health care costs were going to be subsidized. Did your Republican House kill that measure while maintaining tax cuts for the super-rich?

 

[lil_buddy]

It really bothers me that these corporations take advantage and benefit from the infrastructure our tax dollars pay for - education, transportation, health care.

Just sayin'.

 

[Reality Orlando]

That's so weird, I have worked for more than one company where the owners have gone without salary to get through a rough spot.

I currently earn $177.00 a week so I can pay my employees. If something doesn't soon change, I'll have to drop to $50 a week. I drive a 2002 vehicle and live in a 900 sf home. You're always going to find someone who is greedy and unscrupulous, but labeling all business owners like that is completely unfair.

 

[Odyssey]

And to the comment earlier about change, I disagree...for the most part, the younger crowd does not know how to count back change. I always compliment when someone does it right. Totally off topic, but that's one way I learned to count my change, and I hold up a line, so my daughter can count her change back to herself.

Respectfully snipped...

I agree.

When I worked at the movie theater, the snack bar cash registers totaled the order, but did not make change, we had to do that in our head. In the box office, there was only a ticket printer and a cash box, we had to total all the tickets (regular, senior, child) and make change in our head.

Honestly, the only reason I moved up as quickly as I did is that I was one of the few that was able to do it fast enough. That was the biggest factor that prevented people from moving up.

I did feel bad. Some of the people who couldn't move up *were* good workers, but there was nowhere for them to move if they couldn't make change. I would have liked to have the opportunity to help them learn to do it, but we were too busy for that.

That said, I don't think I should have gotten a raise because I had the skills and desire to take on additional responsibilities, while the others got an equal raise just because they're human.

If that were the case, what motivation would 17 year old me have had to take on more responsibility?

 

[Gardenlady]

So much of this thread, and all the posts that have stories about how sometime in the past, someone worked hard and got a raise or moved up - so much of it sounds, to my ears, like: "I got mine, too bad for the rest of you". Raising the ladder once you've made it up. Not realizing that for so many others, the ladder was never even in reach.

There's just absolutely no sense of solidarity with fellow human beings. I don't know how anyone lives life with that kind of attitude, I truly don't. I also don't get appeals to the constitution either, as if it were some sacred document handed down by god almighty himself written in stone. That piece of paper was written by very privileged white men over 200 years ago. Is that really where we want to freeze human and societal development?

 

[Elley Mae]

minimum wage = constitution?