Fast-food strikes set for cities nationwide

[JOD]

Originally Posted By: motorguy222


I would like to ask those that feel this way if they THEMSELVES have done this? Have they refused a pay increase and asked that it be given to "X" in the company so they can have better pay?

Have they asked their employer to lower their pay so that "X" can make more?

If they have not and until they do, they have NO right to ask someone else to do so.


In my last place of employment, I did exactly this (both of those things listed above). I viewed the disparity of a person making 1/3rd of what I was making to be pretty unreasonable, considering that we were carrying similar (though different) workloads. The company didn't see it that way so I paid that person via bonus out of my own pocket. I think the model was poor and overall led to getting less-than-competent staff, but that's a subject for a different time. Still, based on your reasoning at least I'm qualified to call for more income equality...

I'm self-employed now, and when I hire folks I pay them what I want--but it's always more than our state's $10.00 an hour (or whatever it is currently). My money, my choice, but I view it as the right thing to do, for a variety of reasons.

 

[GMFan]

To all those who say McDonald's is unhealthy...let's be fair here. They sell burgers and fries. I'm assuming you don't walk in there expecting celery sticks and couscous?

 

[cchase]

I wonder how many of the people who are striking, claiming you "can't live" on their wages, have iPhones and similar in their pockets.

 

[wsar10]

Originally Posted By: cchase
I wonder how many of the people who are striking, claiming you "can't live" on their wages, have iPhones and similar in their pockets.


EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM !!!!!
Although its probably an "OBAMA PHONE" and you can bet they buy premium cigarettes , and have two pets and they are getting that tattoo finished next paycheck......

Because they deserve too !
They are people too.

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: motorguy222
Where does the "living wage" stop?

Costs will continue to rise every year, will the wage increase every year? It will have to be adjusted to keep within "living wage" standards.

Does anyone actually think that a jump like this would not cause a huge price increase to everything? Those that cant afford these increases will close.

Each time the minimum wage is increased, it raises the prices on everything else, this is the "cause and effect" situation.

The wages go up, costs are passed on to consumers and prices go up on everything else, happens every time.

We have read comments here about how some should give up some of their income to give to others.

I would like to ask those that feel this way if they THEMSELVES have done this? Have they refused a pay increase and asked that it be given to "X" in the company so they can have better pay?

Have they asked their employer to lower their pay so that "X" can make more?

If they have not and until they do, they have NO right to ask someone else to do so.

I do voluntarily go to my local stores and pay a small premium vs walmart, makes sense to support the local economy.
I also have a small payroll deduction to give to charities that provide help to people who need it. Some are free loaders I'm sure, but some aren't so I'll think about how it helps them.
If you ever come to Ontario, you will see that an $11/hour wage still allows all fast food places to thrive.

 

[ram_man]

Originally Posted By: exranger06
Minimum wage jobs are for kids in high school saving for college, college kids on summer break, and retired people who like to occupy their free time working and making some extra cash. They're not designed to support families. If you need to support a family or even yourself, get a better job.


This would be a heck of a lot easier to do if good jobs were able to be found.

 

[jimbrewer]

I live in an area with a 10 dollar minimum wage. Wal-Mart didn't actually oppose it. Partly because they paid pretty close to that, but mostly because they realized a big part of their customer base benefitted.

You can see some difference. Restaurants are a bit more expensive maybe. Not so many illegal immigrants around. Much harder for high school kids to get jobs. I'll leave it to you whether that is a good thing or a bad thing. I notice that there are "better" restaurants with counter service. It seems to me the working class part of town is less blighted, but maybe it was just a sunny day. I was still able to go to Taco Bell today and get a 99 cent taco.

Ten dollars an hour of full time work means you don't qualify for the EITC. I'm opposed to government subsidized jobs, unless its part of a plan. A couple can live in dignity on that.

I'm in favor.

 

[ram_man]

The fact of the matter is 7.35hr is not enough to live on. And instead of a company paying a living wage we have the company letting the govt (tax payers) Picking up the slack.
Mc donalds and all those huge corporations could pay 10-12 an hour and survive just fine. The companies are helping create a entitlement society.
If you work full time you should atleast make the poverty line. When the poverty line is 24, 000 annual and the income a minimum wage employee makes is roughly 14, 500 a year there is a problem. People are being worked and worked and arent even at the POVERTY LINE. My wife for example is a shift manager for a fast food company been there 4yrs and makes 8.25hr if she works over time its not worth the time and a half because she pays so much more in taxes.
But we can raise minimum wage to whatever we want, as long as the dollar isnt backed by anything and we keep just printing . The dollar will eventually be nothing more than toilet paper.

 

[Trajan]

The franchise owners are hardly poor either.

The McDonald's Corporation requires a minimum of $250,000 of non-borrowed personal resources to consider you for a franchise. In other words you need $250,000 cash on hand to just start the discussion process with McDonald's.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: cchase
I wonder how many of the people who are striking, claiming you "can't live" on their wages, have iPhones and similar in their pockets.


That is an issue. Of course when I raised a stink on here about someone buying food on ebt while on an income, I got flamed because it might have been a gift, or they may have bought it before falling on hard times. Lol. Tough crowd.

I don't think minimum wage should be comfortable at all, and shouldn't even allow anyone to have a luxury such as a phone. But if a higher wage enables them to have healthcare or a long term retirement savings so they aren't as much of a mooch on the rest of the taxpayers like me on the functional end of society.

You pay one way or another.

 

[xfactor9]

Labor costs for even a small fastfood restaurant can run $175k. They think a restaurant with razor-thin margins can survive if those costs exploded to $350k?

The strikers are making their own bed. If they get their way, half of them should start looking for a new job. Whoever is organizing this strike is clueless

 

[bubbatime]

Me:I'd like to order a Whopper value meal with a coke please.

Cashier: That will be $13.36 please.

Me: Wait, whaaa? $13.36 for a hamburger meal!!?? Never mind, I'll go home and make a sandwich.

People are very conscious of their dollar and are willing to spend $6 for a value meal. When that same value meal doubles in price to $12, only about 15-20% of the population are willing to pay for that, thus sales go down and the business is no longer profitable. Businesses that are no longer profitable are called closed businesses.

If they don't like the wages, improve themselves and FIND ANOTHER JOB.

And people that go on strike should be immediately fired and replaced with those that are willing to work for the same wage.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: xfactor9
Labor costs for even a small fastfood restaurant can run $175k. They think a restaurant with razor-thin margins can survive if those costs exploded to $350k?

The strikers are making their own bed. If they get their way, half of them should start looking for a new job. Whoever is organizing this strike is clueless




Like many in this thread, you're looking only at the costs side of the ledger. Imagine what it would be like if your customers made 2x as much, but their expenses for fuel, rent, and healthcare increased by 1-99%. They'd be better off.

And your restaurant competition working those same margins would be in the same spot, +/- a differential about how clever and efficient they are finding stuff for their workers to do.

 

[Merkava_4]

Quote:
"The economy is doing poorly. Everything is expensive. With high taxes, we're not going to be able to pay rent," said Domino's worker Francisco Zuniga, 34, who brought his 3-year old son, David, to a Hollywood protest.

The South Los Angeles resident said he can't support his family on $8 hourly pay from his pizza-making, order-taking and delivery job at Domino's. His bosses won't give him full-time hours because of looming healthcare law changes — "they don't want to pay for the insurance," he said. His rent is $850 a month, utilities are $100 and other costs spring up unexpectedly.


Quote:
Derrick Langley, 27, of Brooklyn, has burns on his arms and legs from a fryer at the KFC where he works. The lanky man, who towered over the crowds of protesters on Fifth Ave in Manhattan, showed the scars to news crews while complaining about the way his managers treat him.

"There's not just one, not just two, not just three reasons I'm out here today," he said. "I'm out here taking a stand for all the fast-food workers around the world."


Quote:
Tilesha Rice, 36, was at a protest in South Los Angeles. The mother of four works at a Burger King, and says she can barely pay her bills.

"I don't want to be homeless with my kids in the streets," she said. "I thank God I have a job to help me and my family, but every check that I get I just pay rent. I don't have money left over to pay for my kids' school clothes or nothing."


LINK

 

[Trajan]

Originally Posted By: bubbatime
Me:I'd like to order a Whopper value meal with a coke please.

Cashier: That will be $13.36 please.

Me: Wait, whaaa? $13.36 for a hamburger meal!!?? Never mind, I'll go home and make a sandwich.



Hyperbole much?

 

[Trajan]

Originally Posted By: xfactor9
Labor costs for even a small fastfood restaurant can run $175k.


You of course have the ledgers to prove that?

 

[SteveSRT8]

Originally Posted By: Maximus1966
Originally Posted By: JHZR2

THere are two sides to this whole thing - value for the wages and offset of costs to society....The other side of it is if someone is making money (absolutely nothing wrong with that in and of itself) by shifting its employees' costs off onto society, so that the taxpayer has to cover them. For that to be the case is treacherous, and the business owner isnt making money, they are stealing money from the taxpayers at large... not from stealing by putting their employees on medicaid and welfare....


Your whole concept is fallacious. If a private business is functioning within the law, they don't have the ability to "shift costs onto society" or to steal by "putting their employees on Medicaid and welfare." Those would be functions of your government, and you can legitimately take those gripes to your elected representatives.


I agree, but I am just another Business owner, automatically a member of that vast Right Wing Conspiracy...

 

[NHHEMI]

Let them go on strike. Fire every one of them that does. Plenty of people waiting to replace them. $15+ an hour to work at McDonalds? Yeah right.

 

[Maximus1966]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
Like many in this thread, you're looking only at the costs side of the ledger. Imagine what it would be like if your customers made 2x as much, but their expenses for fuel, rent, and healthcare increased by 1-99%. They'd be better off...


You must be a government economist. You can micro it and macro it all you want, but that is still some voodoo economics right there.

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Originally Posted By: Maximus1966
Originally Posted By: JHZR2

THere are two sides to this whole thing - value for the wages and offset of costs to society....The other side of it is if someone is making money (absolutely nothing wrong with that in and of itself) by shifting its employees' costs off onto society, so that the taxpayer has to cover them. For that to be the case is treacherous, and the business owner isnt making money, they are stealing money from the taxpayers at large... not from stealing by putting their employees on medicaid and welfare....


Your whole concept is fallacious. If a private business is functioning within the law, they don't have the ability to "shift costs onto society" or to steal by "putting their employees on Medicaid and welfare." Those would be functions of your government, and you can legitimately take those gripes to your elected representatives.


I agree, but I am just another Business owner, automatically a member of that vast Right Wing Conspiracy...

Do you pay much less income tax than your employees? Do employ a lobby firm in DC to keep it that way?
Anyways, I think you are are few zero's from being allowed into club!

Plus, you are too grounded from actually earning your money to hang with those guys...