"Dude, I'm gonna need my own dressing room, my own aesthetician, and, like, catered lunches."
Posted on 10/10/2005 9:42:52 AM PDT by grundle
Fast-food restaurants hungry for workers
One store offering $6,000 'signing bonus'
By Keith Darc - Business writer
A cutthroat, post-hurricane labor market has sent wages skyrocketing in the fast-food industry and prompted some of the New Orleans region's biggest chains to offer workers thousands of dollars in signing bonuses, perks typically associated with higher-paying white-collar jobs.
Burger King recruiters have been visiting federal disaster recovery centers and newly reopened high schools offering a $6,000 bonus, paid in monthly installments, to anyone promising to work full-time at a metropolitan New Orleans restaurant for at least a year. New part-time workers are being offered $3,000 bonuses.
Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits has increased hourly pay for cashiers and cooks from just over the federal minimum wage of $5.15 to more than $8, a jump of more than 50 percent.
(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
Funny, Ive been considering abandoning my career choice as an RN. Ive even been practicing saying "would you like fries with that" ..Im gettin' good at it too! ;o)
MM
Hey, with this signup bonus that will kick your yearly salary up to almost $17K a year! Woo Hoo! "Yea, we're movin' on up ..."!
"Dude, I'm gonna need my own dressing room, my own aesthetician, and, like, catered lunches."
Do they get fries with that?
Is that $6,000 net of a grossed-up bonus or are they looking at net of $4,500 or less? LOL
ping
Do they get to keep their welfare checks too??
This article bring up an interesting point. With all the money pouring into NO, I imagine its going to experience some degree of localized inflation.
Even with the bonus many of these people will probably qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) so after the Feds get done giving them a tax refund for taxes that were never withheld from their check, the net effect of a $6000 bonus will probably be netted UPWARDS to $7000.
I keep reading about illegal immigrants flooding into New Orleans for cleanup jobs and getting paid $15 to $20 an hour and labor still being in short supply. And I am reading about fast food restaurants that can't find labor.
Given the huge labor demand, I am going to take a dim view of the government bailing out people from New Orleans who are whining about being unemployed.
Does this qualify as gouging, then?
"$6,000 bonus, paid in monthly installments"
LOL. So instead of minimum wage, they're offering a little over eight bucks an hour. Nice way to paint it as a signing bonus when they won't receive it when they sign up.
Yeah but will you swap that cute little nurse hat for the clown hat you will have to wear?
Blakes!
http://www.lotaburger.com/
It's a New Mexico thing.
Yes, it is price gouging. And price gouging is a good thing, because it communiucates information about supply and demand, and encourages efficient use of resources.
Except NOLA evacuees need to house their families, not just themselves. Plus they aren't going to be hired by a company that puts 12 or more workers in a motel room or a tent or a back of a truck to sleep. Mexican workers will do that and keep quiet, but no one will take a chance on hiring a NOLA worker under those conditions, whether the NOLA worker would accept it or not.
Yeah, youre right, I cant give up my cap! LOL
MM
Price gouging teens drive up hamburger prices in aftermath of tragedy. Senator Foghorn promises hearings. Teen labor cabal must be regulated!
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