Ten Reasons Why Fast Food Workers Deserve A Raise

[xchrom]

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/08/29-7



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1. IT WOULD CREATE JOBS.

Low wages are holding back economic growth, but a raise for our country’s lowest paid workers would put money in the pockets of those most likely to spend it, generating much-needed consumer demand and contributing to economic growth across industries. That translates to higher GDP and new hiring in the labor market.

2. IT WOULD REDUCE POVERTY.

More than ten million Americans—and the family members they support—live beneath the poverty line even though they have jobs. With a median wage of $8.85, a fast food cook in a family of three lives in poverty even if she never takes a day off. Raising wages in the fast food industry could improve living standards for millions of hard working people.

3. COMPANIES CAN AFFORD IT.

With annual profits in the billions, the largest fast food companies could raise wages for their entire workforce and shareholders would still see a return. In fact, many of these employers already do pay higher wages to workers in other countries without wrecking their bottom lines.

4. IT WOULD REDUCE INEQUALITY.

It would take one million hours of work for a McDonald’s crewmember to earn what the company’s CEO took home last year—a gap that has doubled in the past decade. Inequality is correlated to a host of social problems, from worsening mental and physical health to diminished mobility and social cohesion. The growth of low-wage work as a share of the economy means that raising wages for these professions is a critical move in slowing the growth of inequality and the undesirable outcomes it creates.

[David__77]

1. Isn't the solution to raise the minimum wage?

I'll be honest and say I'm not too familiar with this campaign. But it seems to me that unless the basic production routine at fast food restaurants changes considerably, the positions will remain at or close to the legal minimum wage unless their is a means to really get collective bargaining as the norm, which seems to be a sector where that would be exceedingly hard to the relatively unskilled nature of the labor (I don't mean it pejoratively, just an objective assessment of human capital).

I say, campaign to raise the minimum wage CONSIDERABLY - like to $12/hourly or something like that, with some minor exceptions for very new labor entrants under regulated agreements where the employer must be giving more to the employee in training than receiving in salable good and services. The higher wage would improve living standards, and, yes, phase out some jobs that we really should not WANT as a society. We should want a society in which there is an ever-growing level of human capital, increasingly sophisticated skill set, relying on automation to the extent possible.

All that said, I support better pay and benefits for all of these workers!