Free Republic

<p>A single mother who has been working at McDonald's for 10 years was detained by police last week after she interrupted the company president's speech in Chicago to confront him about low worker pay.</p> <p>Crain's Chicago Business reports that 26-year-old Nancy Salgado was part of a group protesting the event, asking company officials to raise worker wages to $15 an hour and allow employees to form a union without fear of retaliation.</p>

Last week, the Tea Party Immigration Coalition announced a boycott of several national restaurant chains, including McDonald's after they, along with more than 100 companies signed a letter asking the U.S. House of Representatives to pass a so-called 'comprehensive immigration reform' bill this year. Thus granting amnesty to millions of illegal aliens, as well as increasing the number of foreign workers coming to this country legally. Such a measure would undoubtedly displace more American workers, at a time when only 47 percent of Americans have a full time job. On Thursday, the TPIC sent a message to McDonald's explaining the...

McDonald's will offer side salads and fruit as an option in its value meals in its bigger markets, and will also begin pushing healthier drinks for its Happy Meals. The moves are part of a number of health-centric global initiatives the chain announced today with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, a non-profit founded by the Clinton Foundation and the American Heart Association to reduce childhood obesity.

Up until this week, Starbucks had been neutral when it came to its gun policy, which meant that the coffee giant respected local laws regarding firearms. This policy was widely respected among gun-rights advocates—a Starbucks Appreciation Day has even been organized at stores throughout the country for the past few years—but it also drew the ire of anti-gun groups and lawmakers who have been pressuring Starbucks to change its ways. Although the coffee chain didn’t reverse its policy toward guns, on Wednesday the CEO issued a statement essentially saying firearms are unwelcome (but not banned). Even though this wasn't...

On Wednesday, the Tea Party Immigration Coalition (TPIC) announced a boycott of several national restaurant chains which recently came out in support of amnesty for illegal aliens.Last week, executives from more than 100 companies signed onto a letter addressed to Speaker of the House John Boehner and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, urging them to pass so-called 'comprehensive immigration reform' this year, which would not only grant amnesty to millions of illegal aliens, but would also greatly increase the number of legal immigrants admitted annually...a measure which would further displace American workers. The letter states: “We, the undersigned chief human...

The analogy comparing arguing with a liberal to playing chess with a pigeon is the brilliant product of the keen mind of Matthew Bracken, a Navy Seal. Bracken’s gem says: “Arguing with a liberal is like playing chess with a pigeon. No matter how well you play chess, the pigeon just knocks over all the pieces, craps on the board, spews some unintelligible profanities, and struts around like he won.” Clearly he has captured to essence of the futility of presenting logical arguments to people who are ruled by pure emotion. “I feel” or “The way I see it” are...

HOBOKEN – A drunk Glaswegian seaman displayed his naked buttocks to customers and staff at the McDonald's at Washington and Third streets Monday night and then put up a fight with the cops who arrested him, police say.

Dan from Squirrel Hill's Blog Shaniqua Davis, it’s not McDonald’s fault that you chose to become an unmarried, teenage mother Recently, McDonald’s employees have been going on strike to try to get paid $15 an hour. Associated Press reports:Shaniqua Davis, 20, lives in the Bronx with her boyfriend, who is unemployed, and their 1-year-old daughter. Davis has worked at a McDonald’s a few blocks from her apartment for the past three months, earning $7.25 an hour. Her schedule varies, but she never gets close to 40 hours a week. “Forty? Never. They refuse to let you get to that (many) hours.”Her...

"You're trying to go up and you're just going down," said protester Shantel Walker, 31, of Brooklyn who makes $7.25 working at a Papa John's in Manhattan. "All of us are in the same financial crunch. We're trying to take care of our families and our livelihood." The strikes mark the latest salvo in a nearly year-long battle to get not only higher wages but also an opportunity to unionize without facing retaliation from employers. . . . U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez told The Associated Press the strikes were a sign of the need to raise the minimum wage....

(MoneyWatch) Employees of fast food restaurants are striking in cities around the country, bolstered by support from labor unions, churches, and other groups, demanding $15 an hour wages and a greater ability to unionize. Many consumers have complained that the expectations are unreasonable, given the type of work and the skills and drive they assume must be lacking in the workers.

Fast-food customers in search of burgers and fries on might run into striking workers instead. Organizers say thousands of fast-food workers are set to stage walkouts in dozens of cities around the country Thursday, part of a push to get chains such as McDonald's, Taco Bell and Wendy's to pay workers higher wages.

Move over, Reverend Al. You're not the only MSNBC host who moonlights as a liberal activist. On today's Morning Joe, Mika Brzezinski announced that she will be not merely be covering a pay protest by fast-food workers in Detroit on August 29th--she'll be an active part of it. Joe Scarborough tried—in vain—to school Mika on Econ 101. But she did the equivalent of covering her ears and nattering "nah, nah, nah: can't hear you!" Scarborough said he'd be at the protest--on the sidelines, with a bullhorn. View the video here.

I know the restaurant biz very well, I can give you a very good prediction on what would happen if employees at McDonalds must be paid $15 an hour; The first thing that will happen is all the low skilled, non management people will be fired and replaced by line cooks with 3 plus years experience and newly graduated culinary students. If an owner has too pay twice the regular wage, he is only going to hire much more experienced people for obvious reasons. One of the highest costs in the restaurant business is training employees, especially fast food, most...

Dan from Squirrel Hill's Blog In the real world, no liberal has ever bought a McDonald’s franchise and paid the workers $15 an hour Recently, Huffington Post published an article about how easy it would supposedly be for McDonald’s to pay its’ employees $15 an hour. Soon afterward, they took the original article down, and replaced it with this article, which admits that the original article had been wrong.But I knew they were wrong before they admitted it. Having read the original article, one thing I noticed was that it wrongly assumed that the demand for McDonald’s food would not go...

Were we all wrong? Is it possible that Big Guy is not the “One” we’ve been waiting for?Could that title actually belong to a different clown?No, not that clown, this clown:It turns out Ronald McDonald may be the “Bringer of Manna.” That’s right, Mickey D’s McDouble is the “cheapest, most nutritious and bountiful food that has ever existed in human history!” Not to mention Delicious!I know what you’re thinking: “Woo Hoo! Butt where does Lady M stand on the McDouble?”At the head of the line! Butt remember, Lady M strongly adheres to the philosophy “Do as I say, not as...

The Huffington Post reports that McDonald’s could double its workers wages by raising the price of a Big Mac by 68 cents. It went large on the Internet on Tuesday. Unfortunately, what it originally claimed was a study by a University of Kansas researcher turns out to be something—a term paper, maybe?—given to Huffington Post by a KU undergrad. And there are serious problems with it. The correction on its provenance came too late, though: it’s all over the internets: McDonald’s can afford to pay its workers a living wage without sacrificing any of its low menu prices, according to...

FLINT, MI -- A group of protestors operating under the banner of Anonymous -- a multi-faceted, underground activist group known for hacking computers of U.S. government offices and those of foreign countries -- took to downtown Flint Wednesday, July 31, to support a range of social and political issues. Led by Flint resident Adam Gerics, founder and co-director of New Market Fire Station Compassion Center of Greater Flint and a candidate for Flint City Council, protestors stood outside U.S. Rep Dan Kildee's Flint District Office, 801 S. Saginaw St. "A major part of this action is that we want to...

So I guess going to a New York McDonald’s isn’t a good idea right now. Videographer and conservative blogger Adam Sharp of SharpElbows.net attended one such demonstration and interviewed an SEIU member, easily identifiable as such by his purple shirt. When asked whether the union member supported the $15 per hour wage increase the McDonald’s workers were demanding, he admitted, “I’m not sure.” He also said he was there to show his support for the workers rather than the company and expressed a fear that, “if they’re [the McDonald’s employees] pissed off, they could be doing something to that food.”...

Is McDonald’s McDouble cheeseburger (two patties, one slice of cheese, costs about $1) the “cheapest, most nutritious and bountiful food that has ever existed in human history”? It would appear that way, according to arguments explained by New York Post columnist Kyle Smith. “It has 390 calories. It contains 23g, or half a daily serving, of protein, plus 7% of daily fiber, 20% of daily calcium and so on,” Smith writes. “Also, you can get it in 14,000 locations in the US and it usually costs $1,” he adds, referring to the cheeseburger as “one of the unsung wonders of...

Yesterday Townhall.com published a column by yours truly that, by all accounts, was well received by Townhall readers. The topic was the leftist attack on McDonalds over minimum wage issues. You can read that column here. Usually I take a hike for a while after submitting column to Townhall. Too much of my insensitivity can cause emotional problems among proggies, and I am, after all, a compassionate man. Besides, I don’t want to wear out my welcome here. Well, here we are .. the day after .. and I just have to chime in with more on this McDonald’s minimum...