

10 years stuck at minimum wage - brianbreslin
http://qz.com/240827/ive-worked-at-mcdonalds-for-10-years-and-still-make-7-35-an-hour/

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paulhauggis
"As fast-food workers, we prepare burgers and fries, not balance sheets. We
struggle to survive from paycheck to paycheck, without million-dollar annual
bonuses or second homes. We often work behind the scenes—or counters, getting
little of the credit for billions of dollars in company profits."

I feel bad, but why is a mother of four still working a minimum wage job at
Mcdonalds? Minimum wage was never meant to support an entire family
(especially a family of four).

I'm not sure what more credit these workers want. They don't have that much
responsibility. Their job is to either put pre-cooked food in the fryer or
accept money at the register. They get a paycheck on time for a job completed.
This should be enough.

"and many of those barely pay more than minimum wage."

So Mcdonalds is STILL paying more than minimum wage in many instances, and
it's not enough? I like how this is buried in the article..even though the
title would make you believe that they only pay minimum wage.

"We’ll discuss how to escalate our fight for $15 an hour and a union."

I feel like basic economics has been lost.

An increase in only Mcdonalds wages, might work, but Mcdonalds would never do
this because the prices would increase and couldn't stay competitive anymore.

An increase in minimum wage would only decrease the spending power for
everyone because goods and services that rely on minimum wage workers (which
is pretty much everywhere), would be forced to increase their prices.

You can see examples of this in any country with a high minimum wage. I went
to Australia a few months ago and the cost of a combo meal at Mcdonalds was
almost $10. At this point, your spending power doesn't really increase that
much.

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byoung2
There is a risk (for fast food workers) that as wages rise, there is more of
an incentive for employers to explore ways of replacing workers. For example,
most people are capable of placing orders on a touchscreen device and seem
comfortable with this process (as evidenced by self-checkout lanes at grocery
stores). A fast food company who used to pay $8/hr for cashiers but is now
paying $15 and maybe will pay $20 soon might find it more economical to
replace 4 cashiers with touchscreen ordering stations.

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rajat
That's why they want a union. Raise the minimum wage and reduce or eliminate
the risk of the job being eliminated.

~~~
byoung2
All the more reason for this hypothetical company to want to replace them now,
before they unionize.

