The answer to $15.00 Hour fast food restaurant wages

[tarheelmjfan]

I don't think anybody thinks fastfood workers should make more than policeman, EMTs, etc. $15/hr is a low wage. It should be the bare minimum anybody makes. Policemen, etc should make much more than that. Prices should not go up. If the minimum wage had kept up with productivity it would be $22/hr.

The problem is that the people at the top take too much for themselves. They need to take a pay cut so that everyone else can make what they should. Of course that won't happen unless the government makes it happen and I'm not holding my breath.

The income inequality in this country is a disgrace.

Excellent post! I couldn't agree more.

 

[Mom of a great kid]

You're right--minimum wage has not kept pace with inflation. In times past, a person could support a family on a minimum wage job.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I don't think anybody thinks fastfood workers should make more than policeman, EMTs, etc. $15/hr is a low wage. It should be the bare minimum anybody makes. Policemen, etc should make much more than that. Prices should not go up. If the minimum wage had kept up with productivity it would be $22/hr.

The problem is that the people at the top take too much for themselves. They need to take a pay cut so that everyone else can make what they should. Of course that won't happen unless the government makes it happen and I'm not holding my breath.

The income inequality in this country is a disgrace.

The math doesn't support that notion. Is it "wrong" that the CEO makes $10,000,000 per year while entry level workers make $8/hour? Maybe. Would giving the CEO a substantial pay cut allow the company the resources to give the entry level workers a substantial raise? No! Even if the CEO made $0, spreading his previous wage over hundreds of thousands of employees might give them each a nickel an hour.

 

[ronandannette]

The snobbery on this thread is really gross. It's easy to tell who has never worked a customer service job...

It's not snobbish to be clear that different roles are of different relative benefit to society. This thread has mentioned several jurisdictions where POLICE AND PARAMEDICS make barely more than $15/hr. You and I don't live in such a place but if we did, could you still say fast food jobs are worth the same amount? You can't honestly (really now, you can't) claim to believe that working in customer service is as difficult or important as law enforcement and/or emergency response services.

 

[manning]

This clip is two years old so I guess no one was in a huge rush to take advantage of it..

Looks like McDonald's is.

http://newsexaminer.net/food/mcdonalds-to-open-25000-robot-run-stores-by-2016/

 

[Mom of a great kid]

Excellent post! I couldn't agree more.

Something else no one has mentioned--why is it that only wages are blamed for high prices? I read that a well-known fast food company now spends more than a billion dollars per year on advertising. This represents more than a ten percent increase over the previous year's ad costs, yet we never hear complaints that advertising costs are harming their business.

 

[vanellopevs]

I never said that just the CEO needs a pay cut but they are definitely a part of that group.

 

[manning]

Something else no one has mentioned--why is it that only wages are blamed for high prices? I read that a well-known fast food company now spends more than a billion dollars per year on advertising. This represents more than a ten percent increase over the previous year's ad costs, yet we never hear complaints that advertising costs are harming their business.

This is needed to bring in business. Politics, here an example.

We will have an incumbent senator up for re-election. There were 3 other candidates going for his spot. The first time I saw there names was on the ballot. My reaction was who the hell are these people?

To be successful you have to get the word out.

 

[Mom of a great kid]

I never said that just the CEO needs a pay cut but they are definitely a part of that group.

However...when a company employs many thousands of workers, does not pay them a living wage, does not give them regular pay increases, but does give the executives regular pay increases, bonuses, perks etc, something is very wrong.

 

[Mom of a great kid]

This is needed to bring in business. Politics, here an example.

We will have an incumbent senator up for re-election. There were 3 other candidates going for his spot. The first time I saw there names was on the ballot. My reaction was who the hell are these people?

To be successful you have to get the word out.

 

[Mom of a great kid]

Why not explore less expensive ways to 'get the word out'? One could argue that they 'have' to have workers, but they found a way around that with self-serve kiosks. Why not save money on ad costs? Also, the money saved with kiosks, will it go into pay increases for workers?

 

[longboard55]

I have seen the touch screens already in many locations, no one uses them

 

[Mom of a great kid]

Excellent post! I couldn't agree more.

I agree. $15.00 should be the minimum wage and plenty of deserving people would get raises if it were. As for the argument that, because some police officers and EMTs are woefully underpaid, customer service people don't deserve a living wage, well obviously it isn't valid.

 

[Hikergirl]

So everyone should just accept what they "deserve" and be happy about it. I have no problem with any worker trying to make a better living. If the jobs that are more "important" than fast food worker feel they should be compensated better, they should demand that, not complain about people who are. And I would support them also.

They should demand to get paid more? I don't think so. You say you have no problem with any worker trying to make a better living but demanding being paid more is definitely not trying to make a better living. Trying to make a better living would be doing what you can to get out of your minimum wage job, get an education, get skills so that you can make a better living. Demanding it is the easy, lazy way and I don't support that at all.

 

[MagicaDeSpell]

Not looking down on them but entry level, low skilled jobs don't warrant $15 per hour.

I understand you're not looking down on them, but it seems to me that ALL full-time jobs warrant a living wage, which means the hourly wage should be calculated accordingly. It isn't just fast food workers, it's waiters/waitresses (which might mean an end to tipping), and those assembly line workers mentioned earlier.

Personally, I'd rather we raised the minimum wage and pay those people directly through the money we spend at their employer's businesses than support them indirectly through government programs. I think there's more dignity in the former, I think it's fairer to everyone from the employer to the taxpayer, and I think the economics are pretty clear cut that cash in the hands of the poor does good things for the economy. It's funny to me that we now have charities following the economists' advice by giving plain old cash to the poor overseas (microloans and other programs) and we can see the benefits there, but we aren't doing the same thing here.

For the record, I think paramedics and other 'low-tier' skilled jobs in the medical industry are grossly underpaid for what they do.

 

[kimblebee]

It's not snobbish to be clear that different roles are of different relative benefit to society. This thread has mentioned several jurisdictions where POLICE AND PARAMEDICS make barely more than $15/hr. You and I don't live in such a place but if we did, could you still say fast food jobs are worth the same amount? You can't honestly (really now, you can't) claim to believe that working in customer service is as difficult or important as law enforcement and/or emergency response services.

I wouldn't for one second say that any customer service job is as difficult or as important as police or EMT. They shouldn't be paid the same either.

 

[aaarcher86]

Glad to see the answer is simply for all the companies to pay more. Cool.

 

[Mom of a great kid]

Glad to see the answer is simply for all the companies to pay more. Cool.

View attachment 162747

 

[mom2rtk]

Glad to see the answer is simply for all the companies to pay more. Cool.

View attachment 162747

And why just $15? Why not $20? Do I hear $25?

 

[aaarcher86]

Mom of a Great Kid - if you just hit reply under a post it'll quote the post and you can type right under it.

I don't know what you're doing it to quote it with nothing and quote/type in a separate post.

HTH