Fight for $15. (Fast food protest)

CAMAROBOY69

CAMAROBOY69

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Michigan
CAMAROBOY69
Most fast food workers are basically trying to almost double their wages from around $8.00 per hour to $15.00 per hour. I will be shocked if this is successful. I honestly just expect a lot of people to lose their jobs. I guess we will know soon enough. With the recession we are in I am just happy to have a job. But for people to request double their wages? This will not end well if it is successful. Just my opinion.

http://news.msn.com/us/us-fast-food-workers-set-for-walkouts-to-demand-wage-hike


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A minimum wage job is a low-skilled job, not a job for life...unless you're getting promoted to more skilled roles. It pains me to say this, but most fast food workers are easily replaceable labor units. I know this because I've worked for minimum wage before, and it's a revolving door unless there's not enough jobs to go around.

I've also worked places where we had trouble hiring low-waged workers because the wage was too low, we'd discovered when they'd take another job before even starting...so they raised the wages on that position and got more applicants and steadier employees. To be honest, a large corporation probably wouldn't have the ability to make a decision that quickly, but that's not saying it definitely could not. And most fast-food joints are part of a local franchise group, so why not protest to them?

It would make more sense to protest "high" prices, but if there's another willing customer with the spending power to do so, they can ignore those without the financial ability to do so. The goods-and-services market can generally meet those demands, if restrictive government intervention does not exist in that particular segment.

Expect either longer wait times at fast-food places, higher prices, lower quality, or probably...all three.
 
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In my opinion this drive for $15/hr pay started in Seattle. Here we have very high cost of living, and we unwittingly allowed a communist to slip into office during a minor election who proposed this new minimum wage. We are actually going to enact it, gradually over time, to apply in certain districts to certain businesses.
 
The only reason McDonalds isn't already manned by robots is that the human labor is completely expendable and replaceable. Robots break and require someone with skills to fix. When a human breaks you just replace them. Eventually robots will be more viable than people, but right now the protestors are just speeding up the process.
 
R1600Turbo
If the minimum wage had kept up with inflation, it would be around $10 now I think. I do agree that it should be raised to that amount, but not to $15.

We also have to remember that it's not just the fast food industry that hires for minimum wage.
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What makes the earlier minimum wage something we should aim for?
 
People need to realise, if they want a better quality of life, they are not owed it, they need to earn it. And if they can't earn it flipping burgers, then ***NEWS FLASH*** work harder and get a better job.

/resisting Mr. Pink Mode
 
Zenith
That's where it would be if we kept up with inflation, but why should we keep up with inflation?
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Cost of living keeps rising every year would be one example.

MatskiMonk
People need to realise, if they want a better quality of life, they are not owed it, they need to earn it. And if they can't earn it flipping burgers, then ***NEWS FLASH*** work harder and get a better job.

/resisting Mr. Pink Mode
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What about the college student that has to work part time while going to school to afford room/board/books/tuition/food etc, etc. A part time job at minimum wage will not get you there. That's just another example.

In the mean time, congress raises their wages every year, but screw the little guys.
 
MatskiMonk
People need to realise, if they want a better quality of life, they are not owed it, they need to earn it. And if they can't earn it flipping burgers, then ***NEWS FLASH*** work harder and get a better job.

/resisting Mr. Pink Mode
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There's another aspect to this as well. We need jobs that don't offer a high quality of life and don't necessarily pay very well. These jobs are what give you a foot in the door in the working world - experience from which to get the next job. Many people forget how hard it can be to find your first job when so many of them require experience working. These jobs serve a very important purpose - helping high schoolers and recent high school grads get the basic job skills that they need to be employable in something that is a long term prospect.

If all burger flipping jobs paid $15/hr, what are high schoolers supposed to do? That's an honest question, and yes it is important.

R1600Turbo
In the mean time, congress raises their wages every year, but screw the little guys.
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This is not about screwing the little guys. Minimum wage should be $0/hr.
 
R1600Turbo
What about the college student that has to work part time while going to school to afford room/board/books/tuition/food etc, etc. A part time job at minimum wage will not get you there. That's just another example.
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College isn't a right that everyone gets by default, so no one should expect to be entitled to a college education. The person in question maybe should have saved money earlier or put off school for later. I'm pretty sure some people go to college for no reason too, it's not for everyone.

When I shifted through a few jobs, but I avoided working heavily while in school because I was worried about managing my time. I ended up taking out loans and then paying them off.
 
I think the fact that cities and states all over the country are raising their minimum wage, means that people are tired of waiting for the federal government to do it. And in those places, everyone screaming that it would raise prices, etc have been proven wrong.
 
R1600Turbo
I think the fact that cities and states all over the country are raising their minimum wage, means that people are tired of waiting for the federal government to do it. And in those places, everyone screaming that it would raise prices, etc have been proven wrong.
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Why wait for the federal government to raise minimum wage when you can find a higher wage job yourself? Seems silly...
 
R1600Turbo
Prices go up every year whether or not you raise wages. Because of this, the $7.25 minimum wage gets worse every year.
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I'm not denying there are other factors in inflation, just that minimum wage is a major factor in it as all it does is puts more money into the market which makes the value of $1 go down. Also, if you continue raising the minimum wage all you are doing is raising the base salary, which means all other salaries will also increase (this is a major part people seem to overlook). Suddenly someone doing a $14/hour job is technically going to be below minimum wage so their wage will also go up.

Anyways, when I worked at McDonalds some 7-8 years ago I don't recall being at minimum wage for more than the 90 day trial period and fondly remember getting at least 2 more raises in the 1.5 years I was there (granted they were small raises and I think I was only making like $8/hour when I left, but the managers made quite a bit more, so they do pay decent to those who actually work hard).
 
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Well, I guess it'd be alright for me to talk about this subject considering I work at a fast food place.

The state minimum in Texas is $7.25, which of course is the National minimum wage. I myself make $8 an hour and that is what the majority of the "regular employees" make. It's decent money, but there's no way someone can live off it, which a fair amount of employees must do. Working overtime (above 40 hours, at a max of 8 hours) pays 50% more per hour, however I'm not sure if that goes for all restaurants or just our chain.

Some of the employees are single moms who can't do anything because they haven't been able to go to college. They can't quit the job and go to college because then they can't pay rent. Often times they drop their child off at a family member's house, or hire a baby sitter if possible (can't be done every day because they are expensive) which also affects my view on abortion, but I've had that view since I was way younger. Anyways, then there are the "typical teens" who work there. I guess myself included. Some of the T.T.'s live in an apartment by themselves either due to family problems or just a lifestyle choice, although the majority still live with their parents or boyfriend/girlfriend.
My point is the fast food industry isn't only for teens anymore like it was 10+ years ago who are just looking for pocket change or to save some money for the future. There are a fair amount of people who need to live off $280 a week, which is barely possible even in Houston, which is one of the cheapest cities to live in.

Do I think the minimum should be $15? Hell no, that's too much to flip burgers or put fries in a fryer, even though after inflation shows that it should be $15, it won't and it can't as mentioned above. I actually find it ironic, because when I entered high school, I thought $7.25 an hour was too low. "How can someone live off $13,000 a year?" And, of course, everything in 2009 was cheaper than it is now. The $7.25 law has been in effect since 2009, and in 2007 it was only $5.15 an hour. So why did it stop at $7.25 while prices for almost everything continued to rise? As of now, there are multiple states who have set up an additional minimum wage plan (similar to the 2007-2009 plan) that will gradually raise over $8 by 2015, with some up to $10 by 2016. Let's skip the trouble; make the minimum wage $10 and an increase of 7% every year.
 
ildd
Well, I guess it'd be alright for me to talk about this subject considering I work at a fast food place.

The state minimum in Texas is $7.25, which of course is the National minimum wage. I myself make $8 an hour and that is what the majority of the "regular employees" make. It's decent money, but there's no way someone can live off it, which a fair amount of employees must do. Working overtime (above 40 hours, at a max of 8 hours) pays 50% more per hour, however I'm not sure if that goes for all restaurants or just our chain.

Some of the employees are single moms who can't do anything because they haven't been able to go to college. They can't quit the job and go to college because then they can't pay rent. Often times they drop their child off at a family member's house, or hire a baby sitter if possible (can't be done every day because they are expensive) which also affects my view on abortion, but I've had that view since I was way younger. Anyways, then there are the "typical teens" who work there. I guess myself included. Some of the T.T.'s live in an apartment by themselves either due to family problems or just a lifestyle choice, although the majority still live with their parents or boyfriend/girlfriend.
My point is the fast food industry isn't only for teens anymore like it was 10+ years ago who are just looking for pocket change or to save some money for the future. There are a fair amount of people who need to live off $280 a week, which is barely possible even in Houston, which is one of the cheapest cities to live in.

Do I think the minimum should be $15? Hell no, that's too much to flip burgers or put fries in a fryer, even though after inflation shows that it should be $15, it won't and it can't as mentioned above. I actually find it ironic, because when I entered high school, I thought $7.25 an hour was too low. "How can someone live off $13,000 a year?" And, of course, everything in 2009 was cheaper than it is now. The $7.25 law has been in effect since 2009, and in 2007 it was only $5.15 an hour. So why did it stop at $7.25 while prices for almost everything continued to rise? As of now, there are multiple states who have set up an additional minimum wage plan (similar to the 2007-2009 plan) that will gradually raise over $8 by 2015, with some up to $10 by 2016. Let's skip the trouble; make the minimum wage $10 and an increase of 7% every year.
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People should get raises by the amount of years and input. Then people who are stuck there, like moms or what ever the reason, can still get a somewhat normal salary to keep a head above the water. I too think work like this is for the young people, but it happens more and more older people get stuck there.

Our minimum for an adult (adult in age = 23 +) is 12,39 dollars (9,58 euros). That times 40 (one work week) is 495,6 dollars. Then let's pretend a month is 4,5 weeks so that's 2230,2 dollars only tax should come over that (on my salary it's 42% (:ouch:)) so you would get minus 936,684 (=42%), ending up with only 1293,516 dollars.

Though the EU is pretty expensive to live in.
 
ildd
Some of the employees are single moms who can't do anything because they haven't been able to go to college.
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I was raised by a single mom who worked 3rd shift(midnight-8am) at a factory for 12 years to support us, she didn't have any college experience either yet managed to get that job. I'm not saying it's easy to find a good job(I know from experience), but with things like temp. agency's it's actually rather easy to find a job that will at least get you further than a part-time minimum-wage McDonalds gig, you just have to be willing to be flexible with what and when you are willing to work.
 

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