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Workers in New York City walk off the job at some of the country's biggest chains, demanding a living wage.
On Thursday, fast-food workers at several nationwide chains in New York City said they were mad as hell and weren't going to take it anymore. They walked off the job, "firing the first salvo in what workplace experts say is the biggest effort to unionize fast-food workers ever undertaken in the United States," says Steven
Should topic starters insert an original sentence or two with their views on the issue? Should posts without original topic starter' message be automatically deleted?
Much of Europe has unionized fast food workers. You still see McDonald's franchises, and they still record profits. Sure, the food is more expensive, but seriously, that might be for the best here in America... Do we really want to make it easier for folks to continue getting fatter? I'd say do to fast food what we've done to tobacco...
At any rate, the one positive of higher earnings for FFWs would be they could actually afford to support themselves, instead of relying on subsidies. Seems those subsidies have been nothing but a crutch allowing corporations to apply downward pressure on wages. Food stamps weren't created so employers didn't have to worry about paying enough for their workers to eat.
$15/hr, obviously that isn't going to work. Maybe $12/hr would be more reasonable. After all... These aren't even burger flippers... They just deposit the patties in the machine.
A fast food job is not designed to support yourself on. It is an entry level job that requires little skill. I worked fast food as a teenager in order to buy clothes, etc. for myself.
Union doesn't always mean high pay. Lots of unionized jobs pay $8-$10/hr in my industry. Unions provide significant benefits over and above pay.
From my understanding though these guys aren't really going about it the right way. They need to sign cards and hold a vote to actually vote in a union, striking just means they will probably all be fired.
Union doesn't always mean high pay. Lots of unionized jobs pay $8-$10/hr in my industry. Unions provide significant benefits over and above pay.
From my understanding though these guys aren't really going about it the right way. They need to sign cards and hold a vote to actually vote in a union, striking just means they will probably all be fired.
Yep, and they will be replaced with people who will work for minimum wage.
In my younger days, I hated unions with a passion. Did not see the benefit of workers striking, making "obscene" amounts of money for doing something I would loved to have done for a fraction of the pay, etc.
As I get older, I've softened a bit and see how much work gets piled on by the guys at the bottom of the totem pole, and don't feel it's entirely right that the ones doing the most work per job description are being paid so meagerly, though I fully get the first job/getting experience crowd. My belief, however, is that you get what you pay for. If you pay garbage wages, you're gonna get garbage back.
I feel a union for fast food workers is as necessary for retail workers. With all of the grumbling coming out of retail this past Thanksgiving, the unions should be making a stronger play for support and unionizing than they appear to be.
Which leads me to something I've been thinking about for a while. I have always felt more than comfortable buying my produce from a grocery store, where union workers are handling the merchandise, which I think comes from the whole union aspect of getting paid more and thus having a strongher ethic and level of personal caring and hygeine. Compared to getting it from Target or WalMart, where essentially kids are stocking the stuff, and with how little they make, who's to say they even wash their hands after going to the bathroom? I just don't feel the level of comfortability there like I do a grocery store. I think the feeling of a union presence makes that difference to me...
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