Minimum-wage protesters take Fight for $15 to McDonald’s West Loop headquarters (Chicago)

Chicago Sun-Times ^ | 5/21/2018 | Stefano Esposito

[simpson96]

In the midst of a deluge, protesters in disposable ponchos stood outside McDonald’s gleaming new headquarters in the West Loop Monday morning and booed.

“I put in leg work day in and day out so that they can sit in this building … so that they can send their children to the best schools, so they never have to worry at night!” shouted Mary Hood, a protester and manager at a McDonald’s restaurant in the city.

Protests outside McDonald’s by the “Fight for $15” movement in favor of a higher minimum wage have been going on for years.

But this was the first outside the new nine-story headquarters, previously the site of Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Studios.

Dozens of chanting marchers moved along the sidewalk outside the new building, 1035 W. Randolph St.

“McDonald’s, McDonald’s, you can’t hide! We can see your greedy side!” they chanted as they passed the McDonald’s restaurant and also crowded outside the employee entrance.

Workers getting off an employee shuttle hustled past them and squeezed into the door.

A spokeswoman for McDonald’s said the corporation helps its employees better themselves in a number of ways.

[Mears]

“And $15/hr will get them that. Piffle.”

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Sure it will,I’m not talking Princeton or Harvard but night classes at a trade school or local colleges——it takes longer,but can be done.

.

[SkyDancer]

They’re wanting the extra money to feed their kids; that’s the mantra. They call up all kinds of pie-in-the-sky stuff but bottom line .... who knows. I remember here in WA that at one time the governor signed a bill to prevent kids from working P/T because he said all they’ll do is spend it on CD’s and stuff. I kind of doubt those people are trying to support a family on minimum wage, be nice to really find out.

[Gay State Conservative]

I’ve been in a couple of McDonald’s recently that have those computer ordering systems.Don’t like them *at all*.In future I think I’ll go hungry rather than use one.

[Amendment10]

The minimum wage protestors lead me to question if they are being indoctrinated that minimum wage is in their DNA.

In fact, I would appreciate if any financial management-savvy FReepers could address why these protestors don’t simply buy McDonalds stock?

On second thought, $162.46 per stock (rough equivalent $15/hr for 10 hrs) is likely a roadblock for min. wage people.

Could employees possibly buy fractional stocks through McDonalds?

Insights welcome.

[ThomasThomas]

With the healthy Trump economy $15 an hour might what supply and demand dictates in some areas pretty soon.

[bgill]

The face of the unskilled.

[Hardastarboard]

When these sons of b!tches can get my order right 5 out of 5 times, I’ll march with them. Until then bring on the robots.

[trisham]

Good question!

[trisham]

I live in Massachusetts. The worst place for incorrect orders in our area is the local 99 restaurant. I would estimate that over 90% of our takeout orders were wrong. I don’t think that we’ve been there for over 10 years. We called them most of the time (and usually spoke with the manager or assistant manager) and they never improved.

[Cronos]

The salaries set anywhere are not based on how much a person "deserves" but on supply and demand. I've worked at places when I was a young programmer, and worked like a dog (16 hour days continuously) and was paid much, much, mucccch lower than I was paid a year ago as a program manager (a glorified admin job) where I worked like 4 hours a day.

Supply and demand

If the work doesn't require a lot of skills then it will have a lot of supply and lower salaries -- but if it requires a higher skill or is a job no one wants, then the salaries are higher. Plumbing is one that requires skills and also is a job a lot of folks don't want, so the potential for earnings are huge

to flip a burger doesn't require much skill -- especially since the work is so well precedurized.