Raising the Minimum Wage causes McDonald’s to Install Kiosks, Ushering Out Workers

Young Conservatives ^ | May 27, 2015 | John S. Roberts

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Well, we knew this was coming.

It only makes sense. Why pay an uneducated person with limited skills $15.00 per hour when you can spend a few grand on a couple machines to do the exact same job?

The Left, as usual, remains clueless to the fact that raising the minimum wage will harm more than it will help. Yet, the ignoramuses who continue to support this policy keep bloviating and pandering to anyone who will listen.

If Democrats aren’t the biggest threat to America right now I don’t know what is.

From IJReview:

Maybe you’ve seen the machines that dispense drinks at your favorite 5 Guys, or the iPad that takes your order at Chili’s and Applebee’s, or the machine that takes your order at Panera Bread.

At McDonald’s, they’ve combined a computerized kiosk with a brand new menu, and it appears to be a big hit around the cou

[fhayek]

There are enough of them out there. You know, Saul Alinsky, Bill Ayers, Cloward-Piven. A whole ideology of tearing down the economic infrastructure. I am not sure why. One look at Venezuela or Cuba should scare the bejeebers out of them. But it doesn’t.

[spodefly]

And the robot won’t spit in your hamburger, unless of course, they program it to do so.

And give them saliva glands and a racial animus ... :)

[Yosemitest]

Minimum-wage increase proposals are NOT about minimum wages.
It's about UNION wages (read government employees mostly) and UNION DUES.
Like "Artie" on another thread wrote.

"but my theory is that
this is one of the foundations of single payer.
Down the road, as single payer replaces ObamaCare,
all healthcare workers will become in essence government employees.
Think about how many thousands of new, dues paying union members will magically become part of the SEIU.

Barry had sealed this deal with Andy Stern years ago.
Barry promised Andy and the SEIU thousands of new members,
Andy says
great,
this is the wage structure we need
so we can pay the slush fund.
Gotta pay a living wage to all of the new union members
so dues can be extracted
and kickbacks to the dems can be made.
It’s convoluted
but what dem scheme isn’t,
especially when large sums of cash are involved?"

So read the following:

Union Support Of Minimum Wage Hike Is Self-Interested

Mary Kay Henry, president of the Service Employees International Union, ... was quick to emphasize that her organization's support of a more-than-twofold increase in the minimum wage was "not about growing unions."

This may be true — but it's also undeniable that such a move would have a profound impact on growing union paychecks, even if those unions don't count a single minimum-wage employee in their ranks.

The fine print can be found in union contracts. Each year, the Department of Labor's Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) releases a number of union collective bargaining agreements (CBAs).

Unsurprisingly, many CBAs available in the OLMS database LINK union salaries and wage rates to the federal minimum wage. There are a number of methods that unions use to accomplish this end. The two most popular appear to be setting baseline union wages as a percentage above the minimum wage, and mandating a flat wage at a set level above the minimum wage.

One example is a series of CBAs signed with the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE). Their contracts mandated that
"(w)henever the federal legal minimum wage is increased, minimum wage (in the agreement) shall be increased so that each will be at least fifteen (15%) percent higher than such legal minimum wage."

There's also an SEIU local's contract, which ordered that
"(t)he minimum hourly wage rates shall exceed any statutory applicable minimum wage rate by 50 cents."

Some unions have also arranged contracts where the employer MUST renegotiate their contracts in case of a minimum-wage hike, NO MATTER HOW LONG is left on the pact's life span.

The possibility for abuse here is staggering:
Unions with average wages WELL ABOVE the minimum wage CAN INSERT such clauses into their contracts, FORCING negotiations in industries not otherwise affected by a wage hike.

Given the limited number of CBAs available in the OLMS database, it's impossible to determine just how widespread this practice is.

But at least one union has trumpeted this arrangement as "one of the many advantages of being a union member."

Earlier this year on its blog, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union proudly boasted that "oftentimes, union contracts ARE TRIGGERED TO IMPLEMENT WAGE HIKES IN CASE OF MINIMUM WAGE INCREASES."

This is a stunning admission of SELF-INTERESTt for an organization that's actively PUSHING minimum-wage hikes at both the state and federal levels of government.

It also raises questions about unions' growing use of nonunion "worker centers" like the Restaurant Opportunities Center, OUR Walmart, Fast Food Forward and other organizations that have made headlines in recent months.

These groups advocate many policies that would affect those businesses that pay a minimum wage — restaurants, retailers, etc. — and a minimum-wage hike is often the FIRST demand that these union front groups make. This only casts further suspicion on the motives of the labor unions funding these groups.

No matter how you look at it, the benefits that these unions stand to reap from a minimum-wage hike should raise questions about their real motives — and whether they're only manipulating the debate over fast-food wages for their own benefit.

Berman is the executive director at the Center for Union Facts.

[ncpatriot]

Has anyone told the MacDonalds staff

[Thom Pain]

Bingo!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“For some reason, the minimum wage folks at the McDonald’s are not tip-worthy.”

(How about, ‘sponge-worthy?’ LOL! Seinfeld reference...)

Our local McDonald’s, in my Cow Town of 8,000, is now hiring FIFTEEN YEAR OLD KIDS. Says so, right on the Marquee!

OMG! I have 16 year old kids working for me after school that are NOT even worth the ABOVE MINIMUM wage that I pay them!

Times MUST be tough for Mickey D’s...

[PAR35]

Around here, a little bit of Spanish can sometimes help.

[PapaBear3625]

The Left, as usual, remains clueless to the fact that raising the minimum wage will harm more than it will help. Yet, the ignoramuses who continue to support this policy keep bloviating and pandering to anyone who will listen.

They are not clueless, and they are not stupid. They know what will happen.

They want the underclass to have no way out of welfare dependency.

[central_va]

Slowly raising minimum wage to 15/hr slowly over 5 years might be a good idea. But not in one step.

[minnesota_bound]

You can go to the supermarket and buy Ball Park precooked hamburgers that are flash frozen. You microwave them for 90 seconds and it is the best hamburger.

No reason why a machine cannot heat them up in a McDonalds along with some fries and place them in a bag for you to pick up. Drive thru would be a chute into your car : )

[Old Grumpy]

“I look forward to a day when none of the people who hate me because of my skin color, nor believe they deserve artisan wages for constructing a half-assed burger ever touch or handle my food again.”

Very well said. I also hate when they scowl and frown at me. I tell myself to ignore it because: at least they are working.

[ought-six]

“If Democrats aren’t the biggest threat to America right now I don’t know what is.”

They are clearly the enemy within.

[BwanaNdege]

I hope it has lots of pictures for the illiterate crowd.

Don't knock pictures on Menus. Many, many times I've been extremely grateful for pictures on menus, or plastic replica of the entrees shown in a display case.

This is quite common in the Orient. A visit to a small Mom & Pop restaurant in the back streets of Pusan, Korea which had neither pictures or plastic replicas resulted in my first taste if Kim-chi... genuine, full-bore, what-the locals-eat KIM-CHI! (or course, a photo of stewed cabbage & tomatoes would not have alerted me)

[The Great RJ]

Any student of microeconomics knows that labor and capital are interchangeable. If labor costs go up it becomes feasible to replace human labor with machines.

[ExCTCitizen]

The Kiosks don't have tattoos, unnaturally colored hair and/or piercings. The kiosks wont ask for $15/hour, days off or have bad attitude towards customers.

Wait a second, I want my kiosk to do all that and mess up my order, too. 😊

[ExCTCitizen]

Yes, it should be outlawed, since minorities with 10 kids will be hurt. 😊

[Norm Lenhart]

The CHILDRENNN!!!! WHO WILL THINK ABOUT THE CHILDRENNNNNNN!?!?!?!?!!?

[GreyFriar]

Sheetz has used kiosks for ordering your food for several years now. You punch in your order, take the order printout to the cashier and pay for the food. Then you return to the food area and wait for the cook to call your number and give you the food. Thus saving one person per shift to take orders and money for those buying hot food.

[HotKat]

I love these feel good commercials!!! Wonder where the whippersnappers will find their first jobs?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nh7IG6A2j8U

[Norm Lenhart]

Call a manager over and end their problem. They are likely already on food stamps to begin with.