Posted on 12/01/2012 7:15:07 PM PST by DeaconBenjamin
Hundreds of fast food workers at New York City branches of McDonald's, Burger King and other big-name chains have staged a walk out in protest of low wages.
The strike, organised by pressure group New York Communities for Change (NYCC), was part of an attempt to gain union recognition for staff at fast food outlets in the city.
"So many people in our neighbourhoods work at fast food restaurants and make poverty wages so low people can't put food on the table, put clothes on their kids' back or even afford the train ride to work."
The group staged a number of demonstrations across the city, culminating at the McDonald's in Times Square.
NYCC organizers have held discussions with employees about forming a new union, the Fast Food Workers Committee, for several months. Attempts have been made to sign them up to a petition demanding that workers be granted the freedom to join a union, and a raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 an hour.
McDonald's said in a statement: "McDonald's values our employees and has consistently remained committed to them, so in turn they can provide quality service to our customers." It added that most of its franchisees offered competitive benefits.
Some 50,000 workers are involved in the fast food industry across the city, with many paid the median hourly wage of $8.90 (nationally, it is $8.76). Low-pay campaigners estimated in 2010 that an adult with one child living in the least expensive area of the city needs to make $21.85 an hour to be self-sufficient. The average fast food worker in New York earns about $11,000 a year.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
Some jobs just aren't good paying enough for a person to comfortably support themselves with. Some jobs pay well enough to comfortably care for a family and home. That's simply the economics of any market.
You said that you used to pay some of your help $11 an hour. I don't care where you live in the US, that's not enough to feed, clothe, and house a family. Even a single person would have a very tough time making ends meet on that salary.
Now, did you owe it to those employees to pay them more than what their labor was worth in your market, just so they could be a bit more comfortable? No, you didn't, and because of the fair market rates for your company's products, I doubt there was anything left in your budget to pay them more.
You might as well tell your customers that they're paying you unfairly for your products, and demand a higher fee. You and I know that they'd look at you cross-eyed and give the job to a contractor who charges fair market value for his goods.
In your opinion would it be wiser for MickyDs to raise the pay or to have them unionize. And if they unionize will the MickyDs stay open?
Brother, this isn't rocket science. You were a business owner. What would have happened to you, if your employees had unionized, and forced you to pay them more? You probably would have gone broke and closed shop, because your customers certainly wouldn't have given you a dime more than what your products were worth.
Unions today do nothing but distort markets, destroy businesses, and jobs. Sometime I'll tell you how the Teamster's Union destroyed one of the best jobs I ever had. All because they wanted more pay for less work. There's only so much of that a company can take before they're bankrupted.
“Brother, this isn’t rocket science. You were a business owner. What would have happened to you, if your employees had unionized, and forced you to pay them more? You probably would have gone broke and closed shop, because your customers certainly wouldn’t have given you a dime more than what your products were worth.”
That’s a fact. But my products weren’t the same as MickyDs.
They have a national reputation and an already built in supply of customers.
I have no real idea of what the numbers are for a burger stand like that.
I will say that given the volume they do they may be forced to increase prices per unit. That may be the price they pay for staying open.
I didn’t do enough volume to be able to do that.
“However, if they did Unionize and demanded higher wages I would bet McDs in NYC would shut down, if they can’t afford to raise the pay to 15 an hour now, what makes you think they could afford it if the workers unionized?”
I don’t know that they can’t afford to pay $15 an hour..My guess is you don’t either. That’s the point of the question. If the workers unionize and MickyDs stays open. Then the whole “It’ll bankrupt us” argument was BS.
You think the MickyDs will close tho.
Wow not a single MickyDs in NYC.
You should certainly be familiar with stupid, given that you look it right in the face everytime you look in the mirror.
Highest margin at McDonald’s is carbonated soft drinks, lowest is milkshakes. Everything else is in between.
It was very interesting
Especially when it's 99% ice.
jobs are worth what people are willing to work for.
i don’t begrudge people trying to get raises,based on their performance and such, but honstlyi have no idea how one can live in nyc for under 30,000 when rent is incredibly expensive.
So true. I’m 53, and I only know a few American born, English speaking guys younger than me in the trades. I’ve got another decade or so til retirement. For now I’m content to take jobs I can do by myself. I don’t have to deal with workmans comp, payroll taxes, and guys who are drunks, lazy, or don’t have transportation.
Wonder bread two.
A guy named Roy Kroc started McDonalds. When he opened his first store, he worked the cash register himself. He was a small entrepreneur, just like you were, with no reputation of any kind.
Doesn't matter that he was selling a different product than yours. He was faced with the same arithmetic as any small business owner. He paid his employees what the market would bear. He charged prices for his products that the market would bear.
It's all about the market, and what sort of margins one can earn. You can't pay a person more than what those fundamental forces dictate, or you go broke. Doesn't matter if you're a one man band with a helper, or a multi-national corporation. The numbers are the numbers and they work the same for every business.
It's utterly amazing to me, how fast American born men just let that entire industry be taken from them. When I was a young apprentice, the only hispanic guys on the job were American born, just like the rest of us. Thirty years later, we're becoming as rare as hen's teeth.
Can't imagine working for 9 bucks an hour, and having to spend 75+ dollars a week for basic things like filling your gas tank to simply get to work and back while paying double for food, etc, etc.
Its a vicious circle...
Wages remain stagnant while the cost of nearly everything goes up...
Really?
Like the majority of people, you pay rent, mortgage, pay utilities, taxes, insurance, repairs, clothing, gasoline food and double the cost, Internet services, medical, dentist, clothing etc. etc., on 11k a year?
LOL!
You *clearly* don't live in the real world...
Don’t have a mortgage.
Rent 500/month, utilities included.
Car Insurance 25/month.
Internet 25/month.
Car Repairs 25/month, works out to be 1k over 4 years or so. Have a Honda civic.
Clothing - have plenty. Too much actually.
Gas - about 25/month. Live close to work + church and don’t make unnecessary trips.
Food - 100/month, easy. This month’s receipts were 75 bucks total for more food than I’ll eat in a month.
Total 500+ 100 for food + 100 for incidentals = 700/month x 12 -> 8400/year. Add tithing and there you go. :)
I also don’t live in NYC. :) I live where the cost of living is much, much cheaper. “If you can’t make it here - please make it somewhere else.”
Good grief!
You make 11k per year and have money left over?
BEWAHAHAHAHAHAH
You’re in CA? Here’s a nickel -> get yourself a better state. :)
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