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New York fast food workers strike over low wages [want $15/hr]
guardian.co.uk ^ | Thursday 29 November 2012 19.32 EST | Gizelle Lugo

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 ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; US: New York
KEYWORDS: demand; fastfood; higherwages
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1 posted on 12/01/2012 7:15:15 PM PST by DeaconBenjamin
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To: DeaconBenjamin

They either don’t learn, or they want every business to collapse


2 posted on 12/01/2012 7:16:33 PM PST by Teacher317 ('Tis time to fear when tyrants seem to kiss.)
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To: Teacher317
They either don’t learn, or they want every business to collapse
3 posted on 12/01/2012 7:18:06 PM PST by ClearCase_guy (Global Warming is a religion, and I don't want to be taxed to pay for a faith that is not mine.)
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To: DeaconBenjamin

New York Communities for Change = ACORN

Nothing like a $10 or $15 Big Mac to spur business.


4 posted on 12/01/2012 7:20:56 PM PST by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: DeaconBenjamin

Why not just make min wage $1,000,000 per hour? Then we could all be millionaires!


5 posted on 12/01/2012 7:20:56 PM PST by BO Stinkss
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To: DeaconBenjamin

Enjoy the unemployment line....


6 posted on 12/01/2012 7:21:05 PM PST by freebilly
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To: DeaconBenjamin

Why not? It worked so well for Hostess’s employees.


7 posted on 12/01/2012 7:21:38 PM PST by Slings and Arrows (You can't have IngSoc without an Emmanuel Goldstein.)
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To: DeaconBenjamin

8 posted on 12/01/2012 7:21:38 PM PST by Vince Ferrer
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To: DeaconBenjamin

So a Big Mac, fires and a drink will run what - $10?

Sounds the framework for the “Fast Food Workers Full Un-employment Act”


9 posted on 12/01/2012 7:23:34 PM PST by jonno (Having an opinion is not the same as having the answer...)
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To: DeaconBenjamin; All

They could move here to West Texas. Panda Express just opened up and is paying $12 for entry level jobs due to the oil boom.

Restaurants can’t keep people since they just go to the oil field.

Then again, they don’t want to have to do anything to better their situation even though that $12 will go much farther here.


10 posted on 12/01/2012 7:24:12 PM PST by rwfromkansas ("Carve your name on hearts, not marble." - C.H. Spurgeon)
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To: DeaconBenjamin
"The strike, organised by pressure group New York Communities for Change (NYCC)..."

When I first read this, I thought it said New York Communists for Change.

11 posted on 12/01/2012 7:25:09 PM PST by Waryone
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To: DeaconBenjamin

Since Obama’s re-election all we see is employees striking ... what is this?
With millions unemployed or under-employed they are LUCKY to have a job ...do they not understand this?


12 posted on 12/01/2012 7:25:35 PM PST by softwarecreator
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To: Slings and Arrows

$15 an hour to watch a timer and ask “You want fries wit dat?”

They can be replaced by robots.


13 posted on 12/01/2012 7:26:45 PM PST by GeronL (http://asspos.blogspot.com)
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To: DeaconBenjamin

These morons crack me up. McDonald’s jobs weren’t meant to be jobs that would support a family. They’re entry level jobs for kids. As you get used to the work environment and your skills/education increase, you leave jobs like this and take higher paying jobs.

If I were McDonalds and the staff voted to unionize, I’d just close the unit.

Then the unions can deal with the out of work former employees.


14 posted on 12/01/2012 7:27:29 PM PST by DoughtyOne (Hurricane Sandy..., a week later and over 60 million Americans still didn't have power.)
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To: DeaconBenjamin

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.


$15 per hour? Why not $25 per hour? Screw that! Let’s go with $50 per hour!


15 posted on 12/01/2012 7:27:57 PM PST by Rides_A_Red_Horse (If there is a war on women, the Kennedys are the Spec Ops troops.)
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To: jonno

Here is your new replacement

16 posted on 12/01/2012 7:28:12 PM PST by GeronL (http://asspos.blogspot.com)
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To: Waryone

It did. You just have to read between the lines.


17 posted on 12/01/2012 7:28:52 PM PST by DoughtyOne (Hurricane Sandy..., a week later and over 60 million Americans still didn't have power.)
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To: Waryone
Imagine McDonalds without dirty, ebonic speaking employees
18 posted on 12/01/2012 7:29:57 PM PST by GeronL (http://asspos.blogspot.com)
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To: DeaconBenjamin
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. It takes over $40,000 a year to be self-sufficient in the cheapest area of New York City? Get out of the city. That's what many companies are paying professionals per year.
19 posted on 12/01/2012 7:31:03 PM PST by mak5
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To: DeaconBenjamin

If any worker making $7 and change honestly and truly wanted to make $15 and change (or more), and happened to have more than 2 neurons in their brain, they’d figure out they needed to perform whatever they were currently assigned to beyond perfection and stand out such that they would be noticed for a promotion to supervisor, management, transfer to the central office and, then, beyond.


20 posted on 12/01/2012 7:32:14 PM PST by C210N (In favor of private rights and public happiness)
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