US fast-food workers staging nationwide strike

[stinkcat_14]

I didn’t say they didn’t work hard. I said the job wasn’t hard. Preparing fast food is about as simple non-volunteer work there is.

Actually, yes you did say they didn’t work hard.

Work hard, get well paid. . don’t work hard, don’t get well paid. Not a hard concept.

 

[Mickey_Finn]

Issue already addressed. I worked for years in fast food in college. People over the age of 18 can go into management if they want to make a career out of it. There was always a shortage of and demand for assistant managers and managers in every single fast food place I ever worked. It borders on ridiculous discussing fast food and “living wages,” because the living wages are available to those wishing to make a career of of fast food. That’s something that, of course, is conveniently avoided by those here and in the media that continue to bring this subject up.

It’s irrelevant because the issue appears not to be working one’s way up in career and society, but demanding and receiving something from others whether they deserve it or not. When wages paid are higher than the market will bear, the wages aren’t paid…the business is reorganized to remain profitable, with those on the lowest rung are the ones that end up suffering.

I’m not sure how firsthand experience from a repeat employee of the year and someone with fast food management is talk-show rhetoric. Firsthand experience trumps regurgitation of someone’s opinion of thirdhand experience any day of the week.

You clearly don’t understand the way fast food restaurants operate. The headquarters is not running your local fast food restaurant, nor paying its employees. You can’t just require the local restaurant to double the labor costs without a significant price increase or without simply shutting the business down when it becomes unprofitable.

Trust me on this one…if you local fast food restaurant could raise prices, they would. They could take a cut of the increase as profit and pay the rest to employees. However, we deal in reality, and market will only allow so much of an increase without economic consequences, notable by eliminating the least skilled. .

I must say I’m not comfortable with the way you throw the word deserves around. It smacks of arrogance. Otherwise I’m rather familiar with how fast food franchises operate.They pay little, and earn much.

ATB

 

[ComputerGeek25]

There is no such thing as free education anymore. Not when parents have to spend hundreds of dollars on supplies per/child and even by cleaning supplies for the classroom. Privatization at it’s best.

There are a couple of issues here:

The average district spends tens of thousands on each student. Asking the students to bring paper and pencils is not much to ask.

Secondly, at least in our state, got extra money in August to buy school supplies. Too bad the government had to look into the program because of the rampant fraud - people were using the $200 per child to buy big screen TV’s

How arrogant to assume everyone is academically inclined, and erroneous to believe that all the higher ed is actually needed for most jobs. Before you know it we will requiring trash collectors to get associate degrees, because education has turned into a money making venture and business only. Most of it is rubbish and I am free to state this as one with a Bachelors Degree in Biology and a Masters in Non-Profit Management.

Most jobs, and I mean a good 98% only require on the job training and a High School Education. However we live in a society in which a handful of individuals have decided everyone should have a degree to get their foot in the door. That way they keep a handful of people in the money and the rest of us in debt. I think if an employer has positions they say are going to require a degree they should pay for the education. They used too. Bet that gets rid of a lot of degree requirements out there, because most of them are created arbitrarily for the benefit of a few.

I never learned, in depth, how to program computers in high school. Post secondary training was needed. It is not arrogant to think this.

 

[TheWarriorMonk]

I must say I’m not comfortable with the way you throw the word deserves around. It smacks of arrogance. Otherwise I’m rather familiar with how fast food franchises operate.They pay little, and earn much.

ATB

Obviously the major chains you worked for are different than the major chains I worked for. Part of my function was managerial in nature, including inventory, ordering, and the financials when the managers weren’t around.

 

[Trader]

Also, if people really have a problem with how much an institution pays, they can choose to eat somewhere else.

They could also choose to eat there and leave bigger tips. Instead, they just protest that someone else should pay them more. It is an old story that I have heard way too many times.

There is yet another solution. People starting as hourly workers can work hard, learn business skills and work their way up in the organization. Jim Skinner became CEO of McDonalds that way.

On Thursday I had lunch at our local Chili’s and happened to see the Senior Vice President of the company that owns that franchise. I know him personally because he is also a permanent deacon at the parish I attend during the summer, and for many years has been the master of ceremonies for Bishop D’Arcy and now Bishop Rhoades and I have been part of the Cathedral choir since 1984. (I had some great news to deliver to Bishop Rhoades about a young woman I introduced to Bishop Rhoades two years ago. She has just started our RCIA program and should be received into full communion by Bishop Rhoades at the Easter Vigil next year.)

The good deacon’s older brother started as an hourly employee at a fast food restaurant, and his family owned company now owns 165 Burger Kings, 48 Chili’s and 9 other restaurants that are not franchises. They employ more than 8000 people.

They fund college scholarships and several Catholic charities:
qdi.com/corporate/Community.htm

I especially like their guidelines for Chili’s Give Back Nights:

Ideal Chili’s Give Back Event partners are organizations that strengthen families, promote a safe, nurturing environment for children and youth and emphasize student academic and physical achievement. Chili’s donations are NOT intended to be used by individuals or groups collecting personal or corporate profit, or causes that are in contrast to our family based values.
Chili’s Give Back Event participants must be a not for-profit with a valid tax ID number.

 

[Cricket2]

They could also choose to eat there and leave bigger tips. Instead, they just protest that someone else should pay them more. It is an old story that I have heard way too many times.

There is yet another solution. People starting as hourly workers can work hard, learn business skills and work their way up in the organization. Jim Skinner became CEO of McDonalds that way.

On Thursday I had lunch at our local Chili’s and happened to see the Senior Vice President of the company that owns that franchise. I know him personally because he is also a permanent deacon at the parish I attend during the summer, and for many years has been the master of ceremonies for Bishop D’Arcy and now Bishop Rhoades and I have been part of the Cathedral choir since 1984. (I had some great news to deliver to Bishop Rhoades about a young woman I introduced to Bishop Rhoades two years ago. She has just started our RCIA program and should be received into full communion by Bishop Rhoades at the Easter Vigil next year.)

The good deacon’s older brother started as an hourly employee at a fast food restaurant, and his family owned company now owns 165 Burger Kings, 48 Chili’s and 9 other restaurants that are not franchises. They employ more than 8000 people.

They fund college scholarships and several Catholic charities:
qdi.com/corporate/Community.htm

I especially like their guidelines for Chili’s Give Back Nights:

Ideal Chili’s Give Back Event partners are organizations that strengthen families, promote a safe, nurturing environment for children and youth and emphasize student academic and physical achievement. Chili’s donations are NOT intended to be used by individuals or groups collecting personal or corporate profit, or causes that are in contrast to our family based values.
Chili’s Give Back Event participants must be a not for-profit with a valid tax ID number.

Oh but let us remember there is only so much room at the top. The point is no one should have to work and be payed less money then required for a living. No one should be paid less than a living wage. The average wage in the USA is 40K/yr. That is considered poverty, most especially if you have children. How is it we live in a country that is supposed to be so great and on average people are living at poverty levels or less? I don’t see how anyone who is Christian can accept the idea that people should be paid less than a living wage for any job.

 

[TheWarriorMonk]

Oh but let us remember there is only so much room at the top. The point is no one should have to work and be payed less money then required for a living. No one should be paid less than a living wage.

Repeat: That is simply not possible in a capitalist society. Paying everybody a living wage, as defined by you, simply creates inflation, devalues the currency, and puts the people right back in the situation they were in. There is a reason that paying every a living wage in a capitalist doesn’t work (barring temporary situations where a country resource rich relative to the population). If you want to pay everyone a “living,” you need to set up a communist society, or something similar.

I don’t see how anyone who is Christian can accept the idea that people should be paid less than a living wage for any job.

That’s simple. Because when you raise the minimum wage to a living wage, you put the people you are trying to help out of a job. That is very, very unChristian.

If you think that people should be paid a living wage, then go start your own business, recruit people from fast food restaurants, and pay them a living wage. If this is the way a successful business is built, then you will be successful in no time at all. It’s nice to talk the talk, but do you walk the walk?

 

[Trader]

Oh but let us remember there is only so much room at the top. The point is no one should have to work and be payed less money then required for a living. No one should be paid less than a living wage. The average wage in the USA is 40K/yr. That is considered poverty, most especially if you have children. How is it we live in a country that is supposed to be so great and on average people are living at poverty levels or less? I don’t see how anyone who is Christian can accept the idea that people should be paid less than a living wage for any job.

You have repeatedly shown your lack of math skills in your arguments. I live on a lot less than $40,000 per year. In fact, the most I ever earned in salary was $26,000 per year and lost $300,000 in a bad divorce. Maybe some would consider me poor because I have no cell phone, no health insurance, and went 15 years between new cars. I am rich enough to have nieces who send me cards saying that all their friends want me for their uncle and a godson who tells his parents he wants to be like me when he grows up. I was always good enough at math to live reasonably on what I did earn and invest the rest. Now I don’t have to work and have several school principals who make their students pray for me because of the gifts I gave their schools.

One of the biggest failings in our schools and in our families is that children are not taught to live on what they have and appreciate what they have been given.

 

[Trader]

Here are the actual poverty levels for the US;

familiesusa.org/resources/tools-for-advocates/guides/federal-poverty-guidelines.html

$40,000 is not considered poverty unless your household is more than 8 persons.

 

[Mickey_Finn]

Obviously the major chains you worked for are different than the major chains I worked for. Part of my function was managerial in nature, including inventory, ordering, and the financials when the managers weren’t around.

Sounds like you kept busy.

But Fast-Food restaurants have on average a profit margin just under 5%. Which I’m lead to believe is quite healthy. Factor in as well that most Americans are working longer hours at less pay. The Fast Food guys are sitting pretty.

ATB

 

[Mickey_Finn]

Repeat: That is simply not possible in a capitalist society. Paying everybody a living wage, as defined by you, simply creates inflation, devalues the currency, and puts the people right back in the situation they were in. There is a reason that paying every a living wage in a capitalist doesn’t work (barring temporary situations where a country resource rich relative to the population). If you want to pay everyone a “living,” you need to set up a communist society, or something similar.

That’s simple. Because when you raise the minimum wage to a living wage, you put the people you are trying to help out of a job. That is very, very unChristian.

If you think that people should be paid a living wage, then go start your own business, recruit people from fast food restaurants, and pay them a living wage. If this is the way a successful business is built, then you will be successful in no time at all. It’s nice to talk the talk, but do you walk the walk?

Repeat: These are the same tired old threats that have been trotted out every time wages must increase. False then, false now. By the way, there is nothing against Christ teachings in trying to help the less fortunate.

 

[Mickey_Finn]

You have repeatedly shown your lack of math skills in your arguments. I live on a lot less than $40,000 per year. In fact, the most I ever earned in salary was $26,000 per year and lost $300,000 in a bad divorce. Maybe some would consider me poor because I have no cell phone, no health insurance, and went 15 years between new cars. I am rich enough to have nieces who send me cards saying that all their friends want me for their uncle and a godson who tells his parents he wants to be like me when he grows up. I was always good enough at math to live reasonably on what I did earn and invest the rest. Now I don’t have to work and have several school principals who make their students pray for me because of the gifts I gave their schools.

One of the biggest failings in our schools and in our families is that children are not taught to live on what they have and appreciate what they have been given.

It’s a credit to you to be cherished by your family so. But if your Godson grows up and is in your situation all of us have failed.

ATB

 

[Geist]

If you think that people should be paid a living wage, then go start your own business, recruit people from fast food restaurants, and pay them a living wage. If this is the way a successful business is built, then you will be successful in no time at all. It’s nice to talk the talk, but do you walk the walk?

He won’t. Generosity with other peoples money is the code of the liberal. He think you’re supposed to go bankrupt so he can feel good.

 

[Geist]

Repeat: These are the same tired old threats that have been trotted out every time wages must increase. False then, false now. By the way, there is nothing against Christ teachings in trying to help the less fortunate.

It is not the role of an employer to “help” the employee. It is a relationship of mutually beneficial economics.

Many of these evil companies are quite charitable however.

 

[ComputerGeek25]

Repeat: That is simply not possible in a capitalist society. Paying everybody a living wage, as defined by you, simply creates inflation, devalues the currency, and puts the people right back in the situation they were in. There is a reason that paying every a living wage in a capitalist doesn’t work (barring temporary situations where a country resource rich relative to the population). If you want to pay everyone a “living,” you need to set up a communist society, or something similar.

That’s simple. Because when you raise the minimum wage to a living wage, you put the people you are trying to help out of a job. That is very, very unChristian.

If you think that people should be paid a living wage, then go start your own business, recruit people from fast food restaurants, and pay them a living wage. If this is the way a successful business is built, then you will be successful in no time at all. It’s nice to talk the talk, but do you walk the walk?

The same posters who complain about not paying a “living wage” also complain about the various educational oppurtunities that are out there to help people earn a “living wage”

 

[Trader]

It’s a credit to you to be cherished by your family so. But if your Godson grows up and is in your situation all of us have failed.

ATB

My stockbroker loves me too. People who learn to live within their means are the ones who are helping others. Those who complain that others should help them are helping no one.

My godson is only seven. He does not know who lent his parents $5000 when the sale of their house fell through. He does not understand which of his uncles offered to donate a kidney to his aunt. He does not know who will offer to pay private school tuition for his big sister at Christmas, provided she passes the test to get into the top high school in Illinois. I am not sure if he knows who donated the first smart board to his school and others to help Catholic schools continue to outperform the public schools that spend more per student than private schools.

 

[ComputerGeek25]

Sounds like you kept busy.

But Fast-Food restaurants have on average a profit margin just under 5%. Which I’m lead to believe is quite healthy. Factor in as well that most Americans are working longer hours at less pay. The Fast Food guys are sitting pretty.

ATB

You do realize that if you cut margins and paid more, the average employee may not see much - in the grand scheme of things.

You’re investors, many of which are middle class and/or retired folk, would also not be happy.

 

[Mickey_Finn]

You do realize that if you cut margins and paid more, the average employee may not see much - in the grand scheme of things.

You’re investors, many of which are middle class and/or retired folk, would also not be happy.

We are already unhappy.

 

[Mickey_Finn]

My stockbroker loves me too. People who learn to live within their means are the ones who are helping others. Those who complain that others should help them are helping no one.

My godson is only seven. He does not know who lent his parents $5000 when the sale of their house fell through. He does not understand which of his uncles offered to donate a kidney to his aunt. He does not know who will offer to pay private school tuition for his big sister at Christmas, provided she passes the test to get into the top high school in Illinois. I am not sure if he knows who donated the first smart board to his school and others to help Catholic schools continue to outperform the public schools that spend more per student than private schools.

I don’t know if you are tooting your own horn, or just rambling. This is a thread about increasing the minimum wage.

ATB

 

[ComputerGeek25]

I don’t know if you are tooting your own horn, or just rambling. This is a thread about increasing the minimum wage.

ATB

OK let me ask you this: If McDonalds were to raise their pay to a “living wage” why shouldn’t I quit my job as a computer programmer and take a less stressful job?