Originally Posted By: ram_man
Originally Posted By: kschachn
You are correct, $7.35 an hour is not enough to live on. No one ever, ever said it was. Working as a fry cook at McDs is not and will not be a career.
A business' profits do not belong to the employees of the business, if there are any they belong to the owner. You all need to get this fact straight and move on. Employees are paid a wage for a job and that wage is (should be) dictated by the marketplace. Higher skill requirements garner higher wages. The profitability of the business does not factor in most cases.
If it did then I could pay lower wages when I am less profitable. But the fact remains that the business owner or owners take the risk and own the profits.
"We" cannot raise the minimum wage to whatever we want because unlike the government WE do not print money. The last time I looked the Treasury Department isn't dropping of stacks of twenties at my door, only my customers are (one at a time BTW) in exchange for a product they feel is worth the expenditure. That is a really dumb statement.
Originally Posted By: 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.
I agree with you but here me out. Why should a bus driver or trash guy get 18+ an hour and benefits but mds employees get 7.35. And we can say a mc donalds job isnt very important....but according to the market it is , theyre pretty darn big. 15 Is ridiculous certainly. But can we agree that 9 or 10 is fair.
Do you realize all the different sorts of managers and workers mc donalds requires for one shift. Just off top of my head 8 crew, a lobby manager 3 zone manger sometimes up to 5, one shift manager 1 asst manager and during the day the actual store manager, then there is the store supervisor who comes in usually once a week. Mc donalds is so inefficient. So maybe cut down on the employees needed and pay a little more. And believe it or not atleast half of those workers dont do their job. So they are a wasted expense any way. Make the business more efficient pay a little more so the employees will actually want to work and then have higher standards for the employees.
My wife has worked there 3 1/2 years and busts her hump and makes 1 dollar more than when she started. She is a shift manager. She gets 37-40 hrs per week. No benefits or anything. She runs a shift takes care of finances for daily operations handles any complaints and babysits dumb teenagers. She cleans on her hands an knees and is a great employee and she does it because she believes in doing her job the best.
The wages are to low. In comparison to other jobs. In the last 6 years the minimum wage has gone from 5.50 to 7.35 so they could handle that no issue. Why couldnt starting at 9 be ok? There is not one valid reason.
EXCELLENT post ram_man! I agree with you 200%! Your wife sounds like an awesome person. It`s employees like her that keep a company running,and are their most important asset. I wish all companies would give employees like her the respect,recognition,and pay they deserve,because without them,they`d have to close their doors forever and go out of business. You should be very proud of her.
