Fast food workers take to streets to demand $15 minimum wage

The Hill ^ | 09/04/2014 | Tim Devaney

[SeekAndFind]

Dozens of fast food workers have been arrested at protests around the country where they are demanding higher pay at popular restaurants such as McDonald's, Burger King and Domino's.

Fast food workers in New York City, Chicago, Detroit and possibly more cities were arrested for blocking traffic in front of restaurants early Thursday morning, while thousands more continued protesting peacefully, according to news reports.

Backed by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), fast food workers in 150 cities are walking off the job and picking up picket signs to demand that they be paid no less than $15 per hour. This is the seventh strike organized by the Fast Food Forward campaign since November 2012, when the campaign began. "At Thursday’s strike, fast food restaurants will see firsthand that workers are willing to do whatever it takes to win $15 and union rights,” said Kendall Fells, the organizing director at Fast Food Forward, which receives funding from the SEIU.

The fast food workers started the demonstrations early Thursday morning. At a McDonald's in New York City's Times Square, about 300 people showed up to protest, with reports indicating at least 19 were arrested.

In Detroit, about 200 fast food workers protested outside a McDonald's on the east side of the city with 42 people being arrested, according to reports.

The demonstrations also spread to Chicago, where about 150 fast food workers protested outside a popular Windy City McDonald's with another 23 being arrested.

The fast food workers said earlier this week that some were planning to be arrested during the protests. In many cases, they were arrested for blocking traffic, while people who picketed peacefully were not taken into custody.

The restaurant workers say anything less than $15 an hour is not a livable wage.

[TurboZamboni]

Do they want fries with that?

[MrB]

I suppose no followup question about the father(s) of the 8 kids doing anything to support them.

[dsrtsage]

“Automation is the answer”

And I just happen to have 25 years of experience in automation, go $15!

[SeekAndFind]

[RightGeek]

[SeekAndFind]

[ought-six]

Minimum wage jobs are not supposed to provide “a living wage, nor were they ever intended to. Minimum wage jobs are “ladder” jobs or “stepping stone” jobs. We held such jobs when we were in high school, and sometimes even college. They are resumé jobs.

[Night Hides Not]

When I see senior citizens bussing tables in downtown Dallas, all I can say to these fast food workers is "good luck, and be careful what you wish for."

Tens of thousands of 62-65 YO people are drawing early social security. I believe the max they could earn before losing any benefits is $1500/month, or about $375/week. Those that want to will find a home at a fast food restaurant, putting these strikers back on the street.

[MIchaelTArchangel]

Talk about chutzpah. Rather than get skills that pay fifteen or more dollars per hour, these fools are falling for SIEU’s “living wage” puffery.

Few people realize that many union contracts have two escalator clauses, one for the cost of living and the other based on the minimum wage. A rise in the minimum wage of more than 100% will be a windfall for big labor until it becomes obvious that increasing union wages that much overnight will result in the closure of factories in union states and moving those jobs to right-to-work states. That would make the free states of 1860 into the slave states of 2014 and the slave states of 1860 into the free states of 2014.

[Tennessee Nana]

some places already have those..

We saw a Hardy’s I think it was this summer at a big New York rest stop on I-90..

there were a couple of servers just to hand us the food or do the few money purchases but most of the ordering/payment was done at a machine on the counter that took credit cards.. no hands, no employees,no salary..

[wyowolf]

Wow..would never figure the Aussies for higher than France!

[Gen.Blather]

Interesting chart. Did you have some thoughts to go with it?

[SeekAndFind]

Minimum wages by country

Country	Monthly minimum wage[3]	Monthly minimum wage (EUR)	Hourly rate	Hourly rate (EUR)
Foo		10	10	10-10-2000
Albania	21,000 lekë[4]	151.39	121.15 lekë	0.87
Andorra	€962[5]	962	€5.55	5.55
Armenia	45,000 dram[6]	87.36	259.62 dram	0.51
Austria	-	-	-	-
Azerbaijan	105 manat[4]	103.67	0.61 manat	0.60
Belarus	1,395,000 rubles[7]	130.52	8,048.08 rubles	0.76
Belgium	€1,501.82[8]	1,501.82	€9.12	9.12
Bosnia and Herzegovina	320 convertible marka[4]	164.19	1.85 marka	0.94
Bulgaria	340 leva[9]	173.84	1.85 leva	0.95
Croatia	2,984.78 kuna	397.97	17.22 kuna	2.30
Cyprus	-	-	-	-
Czech Republic	8,500 koruna[10]	309.09	50.60 koruna	1.84
Denmark	-	-	-	-
Estonia	€355.00	355.00	€2.13	2.13
Finland	-	-	-	-
France	€1,430.22[11][12]	1,430.22	€9.43	9.43
Georgia	90 lari[4]	42.31	0.52 lari	0.24
Germany	1.473.00[13]	1.473.00	€8.50(introduced from Jan 1, 2015)	8.50
Greece	€586[14]	586	€3.39	3.39
Hungary	98,000 forint[15]	335.27	564 forint	1.95
Iceland	-	-	-	-
Ireland	€1,461.85[16]	1,461.85	€8.65	8.65
Italy	-	-	-	-
Kosovo	€170	170[17]	-	-
Latvia	€320[18]	320	€1.933	1.933
Liechtenstein	-	-	-	-
Lithuania	1000 litų[19]	289.62	6.06 litai	1.76
Luxembourg	€1,921.03[20][21]	1,921.03	€11.1042	11.1042
Macedonia	12287 denars[4][22]	200.00	61.50 denars	1.03
Malta	€702.82[23][24][25]	702.82	€4.05	4.05
Moldova	1800 lei[4][26]	95.59	5.19 lei	0.33
Monaco	€1,593.67[27][28]	1,593.67	€9.43	9.43
Montenegro	€193.[4]	147.50	€0.85	0.85
Netherlands	€1,477.80[29][30]	1,477.80	€8.53	8.53
Norway	-	-	-	-
Poland	1,680 złotych[31]	405.79	9.69 złotych	2.34
Portugal	€565.83 in 12 payments, €485.00 in 14 payments.	565.83	€3.26	3.26
Romania	900 lei[32][33]	205.15	5.62 lei	1.28
Russia	5,554 rubles (12,600 in Moscow)[34]	114.59 (259.96 in Moscow)	— (planned to be 200 RUB)[35]	—
San Marino	€1,525.33[23]	1,525.33	€8.80	8.80
Serbia	21,000 dinars[4][36]	186.23	115 Serbian dinars	1.02
Slovakia	€352.00[37]	352.00	€2.023	2.023
Slovenia	€783.66[38]	783.66	€4.52	4.52
Spain	€752.85 in 12 payments, €645.30 in 14 payments[39]	752.85	€4.34	4.34
Sweden	-	-	-	-
Switzerland	-	-	-	-
Turkey	1021.50 lira[40][41]	355.40	5.89 lira	2.00
Ukraine	1,147 hryven'[4][7]	111.99	6.90 hryven'	0.67
United Kingdom	£1044.52	1,293.22	£6.31	7.81

[Ingtar]

Unfortunately, most schools they would frequent are the same ones egging them on to demand $15 an hour. They are not going to learn that they have to work to enjoy a good lifestyle when the professors fill them full of utopian dreams that everything is owed to them.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: Interesting chart. Did you have some thoughts to go with it?

See Post #26 above.

There are nine countries with a minimum wage (Belgium, Netherlands, Britain, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Luxembourg). Their unemployment rates range from 5.9% in Luxembourg to 27.6% in Greece. The median country is France with 11.1% unemployment.

There are nine countries with no minimum wage (Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Austria, Germany, Italy, Switzerland.) Five of the nine have a lower unemployment rate than Luxembourg, the best of the other group. The median country is Iceland, with a 5.5% unemployment rate. The biggest country in Europe is Germany. No minimum wage and 5.2% unemployment.

Still want to raise our minimum wage to $10? Germany used to have really high unemployment. Then they did labor reforms to allow more low wage jobs, combined with subsidies for low wage workers. Now they don’t have high unemployment.

[Bringbackthedraft]

couldn’t support herself and her five kids on $8 an hour. ...................................... So? Where is papa, isn’t he supporting them too? I had 5 kids and paid for their college, why is Mc Donalds responsible for your life style or your 5 kids? We definitely have a problem with common sense in this country. Its seems a large portion of the population has lost theirs.

[SeekAndFind]

The above post I just made pertains to Europe.

[faithhopecharity]

yesterday the nice girl at the fast food joint happily rang up and demanded $55.98 for my burger. When I pointed out that this didn’t seem quite right, she rang it up and requested the $55 again, just as happy as a lark and without noticing anything might be amiss.

I doubt the next step will be $15/hour. More likely, a robot.

OR EVEN MORE LIKELY, the hamburger joint now lets you enter your order and pay online (computer or cell phone).
This works every time I’ve done it.
I predict that the order takers will be replaced by these electronics means. Just like on some big bridges now the toll takers have been replaced by electronics transponders.
No more toll takers, no more burger order takers and cashiers. Electronics Age.

no more long lines to pay tolls on the bridges.
no more long lines and stupid mistakes at the burger bar in the future, either.

the jobs will go to the manufacturers of all these electronics devices (like, China)

[LostInBayport]

I'm willing to share a secret - a powerful, mind-blowing secret with these protesters. Something I discovered in my teen years. A way to make more money when your current employment doesn't provide you with enough.

It is called.....drum roll...a second job.

[rockinqsranch]

Brown bag at work, and eat at home otherwise. It’s what we did for many, many, many times ten years. It works. You save money on food, and fuel, and you know what’s in your lunch.

We are retired now, but in the past we almost always cooked to have leftovers for lunches, and quick meals those days we were too tired to start from scratch. VIVA LEFTOVERS!