Fast Food Workers Demand Higher Wages (credit, unemployment, school)

[Dirt Grinder]

$15 or else what??? They'll quit?

[HB2HSV]

Originally Posted by SarahBellum

Hey, I know! Let's pay them all $15 an hour to add bike lanes to every single road in the county!

You will have to add medical & dental coverages, 6 weeks of vacation/year + 2 weeks sick pay + 13 annual holidays + bereavement time off + maternity leave, pension contribution, tuition benefits, 401K matching contributions, social security tax, state disability insurance & umemployment insurance + traing (this is a shovel...).... Don't forget their union organizing "rights" & ensuring the diversity & inclusion of the workforce.

Why? Because everyone "deserves" a "living wage".

[FayettevilletoHuntsville]

Originally Posted by Nlambert

Considering they have botched really simple orders for my kids numerous times at that location, I don't see how they think they deserve $15/hr.

For example we went through last Saturday evening. Here's what my kids ordered:

2 Happy Meals for boys
hamburgers with ketchup only. One with bacon
two small fries
apple wedges
Small Dr. Peppers

What we got:

1 hamburger with ketchup, pickles, and onions
1 cheeseburger with mustard and pickles
2 small fries (cooked the previously week we believe)
one apple wedge
one gogurt
One medium coke, and one small dr pepper
One toy for a boy, one for a girl

We ended up having to go inside and get them to completely remake the orders.

The week before, I stopped through the McDonald's at Shields & 72 on my way to work and ordered a large coffee. 4 splendas.

Got to work, opened it, and they had dumped about half a gallon of creamer in it. I had to throw it away.


How in the world do the fast food chains expect to get $15/hr when they can't follow the simple directions on their screen? (Both times our screens were correct)

This is so cliché for McDonald's.

Many times I have been to McDonald's they've botched an order. Their food honestly sucks anyway, I haven't been there in years. But it's cheap and quick for on the go people which is why they continue and will continue to get plenty of business. Some say they have the best fries but I'm assuming only when they're freshly made.

[In2itive_1]

Originally Posted by UKWildcat1981

The cost of living in the South is lower than the rest of the country thats why the wages are lower. I believe retail and fast food workers make 11- 15 dollars an hour in California and Washington state thou. Its not impossible that they could get those wages in the future.

I don't think it is that much... still being about $8.50, which is why they are desiring more and in need of more, same as retail employees. I think that minimum wage has been in need of change for a long while. I recall having to accept a lesser position (after having been in technical field), working for $8.00 - $9.00 hr. - in the mid 1990's. So, many are still behind. However, I feel it should not jump as high as $15.00, which would be appropriate for a more skilled employee, not to discount others.

As mentioned, housing is more expensive in CA, which contributes to the agony. Being able to get a low-income apartment based upon income level, is almost impossible, with these programs being overcrowded with applicants, then being lucky to get on a waiting list for years. A less expensive one-bedroom can be is $1100.00, a more expensive one, $1500 - $2000.00. A lower rent place might be available for $895.00 or a "Single" unit may be $795.00 - to $950.00. Again, it depends upon location. Many cannot afford to live, but this is not new.

[Lamar Bowman]

Originally Posted by SarahBellum

Hey, I know! Let's pay them all $15 an hour to add bike lanes to every single road in the county!

I like the way you think. Perhaps a cycling drive thru lane as well? Of course we will need to build shoulders which are too cheap and easy not to!

[Jim Ward]

Originally Posted by FayettevilletoHuntsville

This is so cliché for McDonald's.

Many times I have been to McDonald's they've botched an order. Their food honestly sucks anyway, I haven't been there in years. But it's cheap and quick for on the go people which is why they continue and will continue to get plenty of business. Some say they have the best fries but I'm assuming only when they're freshly made.

I actually like mcdonalds and their food and service is better than ever. If nothing else, their coffee is tops. If they require $15/hour I can kiss my 64 cent senior coffee goodbye.

[FAL50]

Originally Posted by SarahBellum

Hey, I know! Let's pay them all $15 an hour to add bike lanes to every single road in the county!

And of course the mandatory mattress stores along that bike lane.

[FatTails]

My only problem with a low minimum wage is that the taxpayers are subsidizing corporate profits. When walmart pays an employee $7/hr, that employee is probably on food stamps, medicaid, subsidized housing, etc. Walmart gets cheap labor and the taxpayers make up the difference. You could argue a guy making $15k/yr doesn't need that stuff, but until we lower the income level required for welfare, I think corporations should at least pay the minimum amount necessary so an employee doesn't leech off the taxpayers.

[Jim Ward]

Originally Posted by Dirt Grinder

$15 or else what??? They'll quit?

That is my guess.

The problem is the gov cannot legislate prosperity. Force companies to pay wages above employees' productivity and it will get ugly.

[Tourian]

I don't see the downside to paying them more. Seems like crappy service is all you get from minimum wage workers because it is a crappy life with low expectations to try to live on that amount of money. If McD's wants to get more business, then train their employees better, hold them to a higher standard and pay them more. Or else, people will go somewhere else. Plenty of places to get a hamburger.

People that make that little money have little to no savings. Every dollar they make goes right back in to the economy because they are rabid consumerists. There won't be any of them squirrling it away in off shore accounts or changing their citizenship to Singaporean.

Besides. SeaTac is already doing this. We can just wait and see if they implode. So far they haven't. No one bats an eyelash when CEOs make millions even from bad, dying companies. But to pay a burger flipper enough so he can stop driving that POS '86 Escort that keeps breaking down and move up to a POS '00 Contour and maybe get to work on time each day and people go ape crap.