"Thousands" of min-wage McDonalds workers to walk off jobs to demand better pay

[highland145]

McDonald's set the wages for McDonald's employees. And no, they don't get a pat on the back for doing the bare minimum required by law.

But the corp is doing what corps are supposed to do. Make $$ for the owners. Blame your president if you want a higher wage.

Let 'em quit.

 

[Mixolydian]

I think so. How's the wine?

No wine tonight, but I could sure use some...

 

[highland145]

No wine tonight, but I could sure use some...

I'll have another beer for you.

 

[Rakehellion]

But the corp is doing what corps are supposed to do. Make $$ for the owners. Blame your president if you want a higher wage.

Let 'em quit.

And the employees are doing what employees are supposed to do. Make a living.

 

[Number1]

Video

Doubling McDonald's salaries would increase Big Mac 68 cents


A higher salary would attract better workers and demand better performance from the workers. The end result would be that a good portion of the people working there now would end up unemployed for failure to perform to a higher standard and would be replaced by better, more reliable workers.

That's my theory.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

McDonald's set the wages for McDonald's employees. And no, they don't get a pat on the back for doing the bare minimum required by law.

so you go ahead and open up a fast food joint and pay above MARKET wages.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

And the employees are doing what employees are supposed to do. Make a living.

so what's this talk about a strike then?

as an employee, when I didn't like my wages, I improved myself and looked for a better job that paid more.

 

[waggy]

so what's this talk about a strike then?

as an employee, when I didn't like my wages, I improved myself and looked for a better job that paid more.

you fucking evil man! you are a monster. how dare you expect others to have some sense of self worth that they should improve themselves to get a better job!

they should just be handed that because you fucking idiot McDonald's MAKES BILLIONS!

...

 

[techs]

The idea that only students work in Fast Food, or that only unskilled losers do, is false.
There are over 3 million people who work in fast food. Many of them are adults who can't find work in their fields due to layoffs, contraction or their jobs going obsolete.

I'm old enough to remember that people mostly ate in diners before fast food, and most of the waitresses and waiters were adults. Many made a career out of it. And they put their kids thru school, bought cars and paid for continuing education.

What the fast food industry did is make fast food jobs even lower skilled then they used to be. This increased the available pool of workers and let them cut salaries.

Everyones job is the target of the this policy. In fact, you can save a lot more on a replaced employee who made 100 grand a year than you can on one that made 15 bucks an hour.

You're next.

 

[techs]

Video

Doubling McDonald's salaries would increase Big Mac 68 cents


A higher salary would attract better workers and demand better performance from the workers. The end result would be that a good portion of the people working there now would end up unemployed for failure to perform to a higher standard and would be replaced by better, more reliable workers.

That's my theory.

But how much of that would the worker make back in a higher salary? If the 3 million fast food workers made double they would be buying cars, clothes, services, etc. The economy would improve and companies would make more money, and should give you a raise.

 

[3chordcharlie]

so you go ahead and open up a fast food joint and pay above MARKET wages.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ford#The_five-dollar_workday

Here's some homework:

1. Walk into the nearest fast food restaurant during the lunch rush, preferably one with an open kitchen so you can see most of what happens. Watch what happens for the next 15 minutes. How slow is it? How many returned orders? How many people wait in line for a bit and then walk out because the line isn't moving?

2. Imagine what would happen with two-thirds as many employees... who all graduated from high school, make enough to pay their rent, and would be upset if they lost their jobs.

 

[bradley]

In-N-Out is one of the few fast food chains in the United States to pay its employees significantly more than state and federally mandated minimum wage guidelines – starting at US$10.50 per hour in California, as of April 2013

http://www.in-n-out.com/employment/restaurant.aspx
Great Benefits
We start all our new Associates at a minimum of $10.50 an hour for one simple reason...you are important to us! And our commitment to a higher starting wage is just one of the ways in which we show it. Another way is through offering excellent part-time and full-time benefits like flexible schedules to accommodate school and other activities, paid vacations, free meals, comprehensive training, and a 401k plan.

 

[jagec]

so when enough people decide it's not worthwhile to commute to the city to work, the labor supply dries up and McD's will have to offer higher wages to attract employees.

Isn't that sorta-kinda what's happening here?

 

[highland145]

so what's this talk about a strike then?

as an employee, when I didn't like my wages, I improved myself and looked for a better job that paid more.

I wouldn't even have bothered responding but he started the name calling....twats gotta twat.

In-N-Out is one of the few fast food chains in the United States to pay its employees significantly more than state and federally mandated minimum wage guidelines – starting at US$10.50 per hour in California, as of April 2013

Cali....so? Anyone on this planet knows Cali is stupid expensive. What's SC?

 

[purbeast0]

@ the subject of not wanting kids due to finances while making $160k/yr...

i can totally understand this mentality. my wife and i are pretty well off (especially compared to our families) and everyone in our families have wanted us to have kids for the past few years. we simply haven't wanted to because we like to travel and wanted to keep traveling and having fun for a few more years before we decide to have kids.

we realize if we have a kid we'll have to give up things like traveling 3-4 times a year, or going out to eat at $150+ dinners once or twice a month, or just spending money on things that we like to spend money on right now.

just because someone doesn't want to have kids making $160k/yr does NOT mean they realistically could not afford it.

 

[highland145]

^^^ True and I was 37 before the boy showed up. Live it up, purbeast.

 

[Patranus]

Maybe they were fucking born there, you twat.

No one's entitled to anything, and McDonald's certainly isn't entitled to underpay their workers.

I don't understand your point......

 

[Wyndru]

Who said you had to survive on it? Kids still live with their parents. Many others live in dual-income families. Many others work minimum wage just to do something after they are retired.

Anyone trying to survive on it SHOULDN'T, but they still qualify for (and likely receive) government assistance. There are plenty of unskilled manual labor jobs that pay more. They are just too lazy and want to get more money for less valuable labor.

Yeah, I realize now using "survive" was a bad way to explain what I meant. Basically I'm just saying that if there is a statewide minimum wage that does not vary, then the amount of money paid to mcdonalds employees in a city is likely worth less in than it is in the suburbs when you factor in the cost of living. But someone else mentioned that minimum wage can actually vary by area throughout a state, I didn't realize this. So I guess it's not really McDonalds' fault, since the state would have to mandate a higher wage in these cities for it to be a fairer distribution based on geographic average income.

 

[Acanthus]

so what's this talk about a strike then?

as an employee, when I didn't like my wages, I improved myself and looked for a better job that paid more.

Have you gone outside in the last 6 years?

 

[SSSnail]

In-N-Out is one of the few fast food chains in the United States to pay its employees significantly more than state and federally mandated minimum wage guidelines – starting at US$10.50 per hour in California, as of April 2013

http://www.in-n-out.com/employment/restaurant.aspx
Great Benefits
We start all our new Associates at a minimum of $10.50 an hour for one simple reason...you are important to us! And our commitment to a higher starting wage is just one of the ways in which we show it. Another way is through offering excellent part-time and full-time benefits like flexible schedules to accommodate school and other activities, paid vacations, free meals, comprehensive training, and a 401k plan.

Well, why aren't the McD employees go get jobs at In and Out then? I'll tell you why - because I've NEVER got my order wrong from In and Out. I wish I can say the same thing about other fast food joints.

There is a big difference in quality between the employees from In and Out, and other fast food joints. And that's why they get paid more.

 

[BoberFett]

Well, why aren't the McD employees go get jobs at In and Out then? I'll tell you why - because I've NEVER got my order wrong from In and Out. I wish I can say the same thing about other fast food joints.

There is a big difference in quality between the employees from In and Out, and other fast food joints. And that's why they get paid more.

Then McDonald's should be nearly out of business and In n Out should be the #1 burger chain around, right?

Oh, so price does matter to the consumer?

I guess McDonald's employees are paid exactly what the consumer values them at.

 

[Ns1]

I guess McDonald's employees are paid exactly what the consumer values them at.

pretty much.

 

[Acanthus]

Well, why aren't the McD employees go get jobs at In and Out then? I'll tell you why - because I've NEVER got my order wrong from In and Out. I wish I can say the same thing about other fast food joints.

There is a big difference in quality between the employees from In and Out, and other fast food joints. And that's why they get paid more.

Do they retain better workers for longer because they pay better, improving service?

Or do they attract inherently more skilled people to positions because of pay?

I would personally throw my weight behind the former and not the latter.

 

[SSSnail]

Do they retain better workers for longer because they pay better, improving service?

Or do they attract inherently more skilled people to positions because of pay?

I would personally throw my weight behind the former and not the latter.

And you'd be wrong. Because the barrier into In and Out is that they're pretty skilled at what they do in the first place. It's still not a career, but you can tell the people that work at In and Outs are more intelligent, as a whole, than the people at other fast food joints. I don't know this for a fact, but I believe most of them are college kids, while the other joints are monopolized by a certain minorities.

 

[Acanthus]

And you'd be wrong. Because the barrier into In and Out is that they're pretty skilled at what they do in the first place. It's still not a career, but you can tell the people that work at In and Outs are more intelligent, as a whole, than the people at other fast food joints. I don't know this for a fact, but I believe most of them are college kids, while the other joints are monopolized by a certain minorities.

That can have a lot more to do with location.

And of course you'll get more applicants for a higher paying job, so you can be more selective.

My argument is that retention is improved so you seldom have people "on their first week" of work taking/making your order, which is pretty much perpetual at a low-end fast food place.