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How is it that fast food places in Australia are able to pay their min wage of $15+ an hour and still stay in business? Sure, those burgers and fries cost more than here, but they woof 'em down just the same - maybe because working people in Australia aren't making poverty wages.
I'd like to know why wages have gone up in most other countries of the world while ours have gone down when adjusted for inflation - case in point - when I worked part-time for UPS in 1990, I was making $9 an hour. How much does that job pay now? You guessed it - $9 an hour. The job I had one summer at a theme park paid something like $7 an hour. What does that job pay now? Usually around $7.50 an hour.
Something's clearly gone wrong in this country, and it's up to all of us to try and fix it - by demanding employers *pay a fair wage.* As Dragonborn mentioned, employers are mooching off the taxpayers by paying so little that they need food stamps and other assistance just to make ends meet. That's why I never trust what "free market" advocates say, as they only advocate what's good for business, never what's good for the rest of us that actually have to work for a living.
You should start your own fast food chain. Start your unionized employees out at $22 an hour with 6 weeks vacation and full benefits.
Why would people pay more for a burger? The price at a McD's would approach a sit down restaurant, and the low price is the number one reason a McD's can capture significant market share.
Actually in many other countries a McDonald's burger costs about twice as much and you know what, people still eat there. A lot. And the company is still thriving there.
I frankly don't get why wages can't go up with inflation. A grocery store raise their prices as time goes by but they can't raise the wages for their employees at the same time? That makes no sense to me and I don't believe for a second that companies have to pay the same low wages they paid 20 years ago.
Actually in many other countries a McDonald's burger costs about twice as much and you know what, people still eat there. A lot. And the company is still thriving there.
I frankly don't get why wages can't go up with inflation. A grocery store raise their prices as time goes by but they can't raise the wages for their employees at the same time? That makes no sense to me and I don't believe for a second that companies have to pay the same low wages they paid 20 years ago.
The minimum wage was $4.25 twenty years ago. You were saying something about the "same" low wage being paid.
In addition, Employer FICA, Medicare, Base unemployment insurance expense even when one never laid off anyone, Workers comp have all skyrocketed. The employee doesn't care, as it is not their wallet being robbed.
While people continue to debate the validity of traditional unions in my long-running "Why the hate for unions" in the biz forum, I'd like to ask the question of whether it's possible that a totally new kind of unions could come about to cope with the devalued, service-sector labor force that's become so dominant in the US today.
While it's entirely understandable to contend that the "old school" unions have gone too far with their greed and have been corrupted with self-centered leadership, I find no reason why we couldn't start all over from scratch with having unionized workplaces, unions that are much more flexible and adaptable than the old-school "factory" unions like the UAW, etc. Instead of forcing members to pay union dues, they could make the *company* pay dues - why this hasn't been used before is beyond me....lol. Also, these unions could have term limits for elected offices, to prevent corrupting influences, and these positions could be made non-paid, so people wouldn't seek union leadership just so they can collect a fat paycheck from the union's coffers.
As for the industries that could most benefit from being unionized, here's a few in mind:
Call centers. These are infamous for being horrid places to work, with low pay, extremely oppressive management and "boiler room" environments. A union could strike for much higher pay, much better working conditions and the elimination of pervasive workplace monitoring.
Fast food joints. Imagine burger-flippers making $22 an hour, with 6 weeks off a year and full bennies. Yep, that'd be possible if every fast-food worker in the US were part of the new Quick Service Restaurant Union...lol. Sure, Big Macs would then cost $7, but would that be such a bad thing to have in this country? Maybe people would eat at home more, and not get so F-A-T eating that gross fast food all the time.
Big box retail. Just imagine, all the big-box stores being shut in America a week before Christmas, due to all the retail workers being on strike. If the retailers wanted to save the holiday shopping season, they'd better cave in to the Retail Federation Union's demands for 6-hour workdays and $19 an hour, plus profit sharing.
Hospitals. As much as they charge for patients being in the hospital, they would have little difficulty paying nurses and hospital staff the wages they deserve, as well as ramping up to full staffing levels. And the Hospitals Workers Union would make sure of this by holding strikes in the billing department...lol.
The point I'm trying to make here is that we really could dramatically raise our overall standard of living if the low-paid service workers were able to unionize like the factory workers did a century ago, and the economy would boom for generations to come with all that extra money everybody would be making.
I think it would be wonderful if a new kind of union could take off to increase wages and working conditions for the kind of workers you described above. But unfortunately I don't think it will ever happen. Corporations have done too good of a job at making "union" a bad word and have been very successful in convincing low wage earners that they should be happy with what they have and that they are even lucky. They use some very clever methods in ensuring that the workers are content, like calling them "associates" instead of employees, referring to their jobs as "career opportunities" and giving them little titles to make them feel that they are better off than they really are. People accept their conditions because they believe they have a career opportunity and are satisfied with getting an "employee of the month" award instead of a raise. I worked at a job where the managers handed out little pre-printed "recognition cards" that said that the manager recognized that you had done a good job, like little atta-boys. And the employees bought into it all the way. We are taught here in the US that we have it better than anyone in the world and that we should be grateful because we have freedom and opportunities. Complaining and pointing out things that are wrong are considered unpatriotic. I think these sentiments have been so deeply ingrained in low wage workers that they don't even consider asking for more, much less demanding. At least that has been my experience talking to coworkers at the low wage jobs I've had.
Unfortunately we low wage earners are our own worst enemies. There have been a couple of studies asking employees what would make them happy as employees and the majority responded that they are not mostly interested in raises and better benefits but they want opportunities to move up in their companies and want recognition from their managers for the good work they do. As a result employers have responded by calling a gas station cashier job a "career opportunity" and giving out meaningless awards.
I think those of us who care about the living standards of everyone have to do a better job at educating workers that it can be better and that they deserve better. We have to start to undo some of the results of the propaganda they've been subjected to during the past 25 years. We have to get them to see what a scam that have been pulled on them and that they don't have to be satisfied with having their picture under the "employee of the month"-sign in the break room but that real rewards and recognition comes in the form of something they can actually use. But sadly the existing organizations are doing none of that. Where are the attempts to reach these people? Where are the attempts to educate? Without the cooperation of the workers themselves nothing can change. As it is now many of them don't even realize that they are being treated unfairly. We have to at least start to deal with this ignorance.
I just do not understand what were going to win in this race to the bottom. If we break every union in the US so what? Unions make up less then 12% of the working population. They no longer have any pull in most cases. So at the end of the day cut their wages 60% their medical benefits too. Then the guy loses his house car and just adds to unemployment roles and food stamps. We win what 3 million temp jobs at 9 bucks an hour no benefits. I mean if jobs come back to the US and pay nothing what do we win? Heck the taxpayer will have to kick in tons of cash in food stamps just so people can feed themselves.
The minimum wage was $4.25 twenty years ago. You were saying something about the "same" low wage being paid.
In addition, Employer FICA, Medicare, Base unemployment insurance expense even when one never laid off anyone, Workers comp have all skyrocketed. The employee doesn't care, as it is not their wallet being robbed.
Many of these things increased along with inflation. Health insurance is a different story, but 1/3rd of our population is obese. Of course that will come at a cost. Maybe if we had more opportunity to exchange sweat equity on the job, that problem may result. We have a whole lot of illegals in this country doing the actual work though, and a lot of other industries have been packed up in search of the cheapest laborer.
With these increases, what didn't increase was the worker's take home pay. Hence, the extreme value market shopping everyone with a little money is engaging in. When people had more discretionary spending $$$, they didn't mind paying enough to support a healthy profit margin, and sales we enough to sustain natural business growth.
And regarding minimum wage, adjusted for inflation, it was higher in 1970.
You should start your own fast food chain. Start your unionized employees out at $22 an hour with 6 weeks vacation and full benefits.
Keep us all posted on how it works out.
Many union jobs simply don't pay the exhortation wages people seem to think. UPS workers start at $9/hr. Union rates at most food producers are around the same. Union labor does not automatically mean overpriced labor. What they do get is two raises a year, which was no unlike many private sector jobs. Even that is going away. Many union members have seen pay freezes over the past few years. When I started my union apprenticeship in 2004, I started at $14/hr. Still couldn't get many kids interested in signing up. What management seems to hate most about unions is their ability to offer leverage and a voice for the worker.
Why would people pay more for a burger? The price at a McD's would approach a sit down restaurant, and the low price is the number one reason a McD's can capture significant market share.
Why would people have to pay more? Does it cost significantly less to utilize the service of non union FedEx compared to union UPS? When living in Michigan, I found union Kroger to offer competitively priced goods compared to non union Walmart. A union can only bargain so much when the market labor rates for such jobs are so minimal.
And I have worked at places where we were offered a vote to go union. I voted no, as did many other workers. The reason? We were paid fairly and treated well.
The minimum wage was $4.25 twenty years ago. You were saying something about the "same" low wage being paid.
My husband got a job driving a delivery truck for $7/hour in the mid '80's. That was considered a low wage back then. Now, almost 30 years later, similar jobs pay the exact same amount.
When I moved to the Chicago area in 2000 the local grocery store started their employees at $7.25/h. Now, twelve years later, they pay new employees $8.25, a 12% increase, and that's only because that's Illinois minimum wage. In the same time period a gallon of milk has gone up by 30% and many other products have gone up by similar amounts. Please tell me why wages could not have gone up at the same rate as everything else?
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