The Causes Of Fast Food Labor?

The fast-food workers are expressed as a pond in a bigger game. They have to deal with their low pay in order to ensure low prices by these franchises. Jencunas concerns go on to represent the beginning of a bigger chain effect. Briefly, he states that, “The average fast food store would go from profitable to unprofitable overnight. Some would close immediately, leaving their workers worse off than they were when working for $7.50 an hour, while others would raise prices and try and remain in business, hurting consumers” (“Don't Deserve Any More, or Less”). Evaluating his reasoning we see that if fast-food workers ask for a higher minimum wage, they will in return influence the profit margin and actually increase unemployment rate in this industry. The researchers go on to inform us that if their minimum wage increases the industry won’t be able to afford the change in their profit margin and result in bankruptcy. However, Mary Kay Henry, president of the Service Employees International Union, which supports the fast-food strike states a different claim:

Two years ago the United Steel Workers organized the 400 workers at Maple Grove Foods, a food processing company in Western Ontario. Previously the company had been in operation for over thirty years as a non-union shop. Management had tried to convince employees not to join the union. The employees were paid quite well, in the view of the company.

According to the article, the workers are demanding for fifteen dollars and hour and the right to unionize. Different states have different minimum wages requirements, but according to the article, most of workers in the fast-food industry still face the same problem, which is the shortage of money. Some workers who work hard daily still need financial aid in order to bring food to the table. This protesting started two years ago and is still happening today. There are at least 190 U.S. cities, such as “Chicago, Indianapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Knoxville, Tennessee” that are participating in this protest.

Life as we know it is changing and maybe not for the best. People are making life-changing decisions without a second thought every second of every day. Is this the way anyone should be living their life? (TRANSITION?) Many who have or currently work in restaurants and other places of business within the food industry are demanding higher compensations without knowing the negative repercussions that could arise and take effect. It was recently discovered that, in 2014, around 71% of Americans favored an increase in minimum wages, yet less than half knew or understood the positive and negative effects that came with higher wages (procon.org). That is a very striking statistic and goes to show that people need to be educated before making a decision that could ultimately change the rest of their lives. I used to be one. So, before filling out your ballot and checking ‘yes’ or ‘no’ for the proposition to raise your state’s minimum wage that sounds so appealing, take a minute to understand what you are choosing, you may be surprised what you learn. In the end, it is your decision and freedom of choice to support or oppose the increase, but I believe we should stand against raising the minimum wage for all except servers who receive the tipped minimum wage of $2.13.

The union will need to engage in intra-organizational bargaining in order to reach a greater consensus as to what is essential to our workers. By going through this process away from the bargaining table, we can come to the table with a firm and unified stance. We indent to do this in a number of ways. First, we can educate workers about how in actuality, their interests are aligned because a victory for the union is a victory for all members. For example, an improved pension plan does not only benefit older workers, but also younger workers because of the precedent that this proposed pension plan will set for their future pension plans. The same is true for job security. We will ensure the workers that we as their union are their agents in their desire to improve their wages and working conditions. This emphasis on unity will increase our relative power and aid us when it comes time for zero-sum bargaining.

Since the beginning of minimum wage during the Great Depression, the discussion of the how much minimum wage should be has always been occurring. Currently there is a strong push for the minimum wage to be raised, especially as Americans compare the current American rate to other countries’ rates. The New York Times recently reported that unionized Danish fast-food workers are paid more than twice as much as the average fast-food worker in America, and the Danish workers also receive benefits and paid vacation (Salz par. 2). Salz in his article, “Invitation to a Dialogue: A Challenge to America,” begs America to change its minimum wage rate so as to better take care of Americans. What Salz fails to take into account is the context of the comparison of rates along with the purpose of minimum wage when it was created, the effects of raising the minimum wage, and looking at the costs involved.

The reality is that salaries have not been increasing fast enough to keep up with inflation. In the article “PRO/CON: Living Wage for Fast-food Workers?” it states that “It would be $17 per hour today instead of a meager $7.25” proving that salary is not increasing as fast as inflation. In “Mcdonald’s Raising its Minimum Wage, but Some Say it’s Not Enough” it is said “Mcdonald’s projected by the end of 2016, the average wage rate for employees at its company-owned locations would exceed $10 an hour.” Even with this slight increase wage theft that is being performed by many fast food companies makes it difficult to support a

Minimum wage is the lowest amount of money that an employer can pay an employee under labor law. The cruel irony of the minimum wage is that it harms most the very segments of our society that it is intended to help—the unskilled poor and the inexperienced young. However, the Canadian Labour Congress (2009) noted, “unionized worker earned $4.97 an hour more than a non-union worker in 2012”. That equates to roughly $10,000 more in monetary compensation relative to non-union workers. Although it varies based on sector and occupation, the union difference for workers across the board is undeniable. The unionized workers are able to live off a living wage.

In the article “No, Seattle’s $15 Minimum Wage Is Not Hurting Workers,” Michelle Chen claims that raising the nation’s minimum wage will improve millions of employees and their families and the only adverse effects are just temporary. Seattle enacted a law with the intention of increasing the minimum wage over a period of time to $15 per hour, which is just now, thanks to the efforts of “Fight for 15,” becoming beneficial to the restaurant industry. It has been found that employers are abiding by the new law and employees are profiting from the change, at least in the restaurant business. Chen claims that Research finds that the new minimum wage is benefiting restaurant employees that previously earned less than $15, and furthermore clarifies

“When we talk about the kind of folks whose lives will be made better by raising the minimum wage, we 're not talking about a couple teenagers earning extra spending money to supplement their allowance. We 're talking about providers and breadwinners. Working Americans with bills to pay and mouths to feed” (Perez 2015). Minimum wage is a problem to America because some people cannot live off it and some people say businesses should not pay extra. Should the minimum wage be raised ? “A native of Detroit, Cecil Euseary, 52, moved to Holland, Michigan in 2007, after his mother died — he had to get out of town. He moved back to Detroit in 2014.He works at Burger King working minimum wage there. He can only get about 25 hours of work per week at Burger King. Cecil has been active in the "D15" campaign to increase the minimum wage in Detroit to $15 per hour. He once met with U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez, when he was visiting Detroit. "It 's hard. If it weren 't for my god mom — this is her house; I get a room upstairs — if it weren 't for her, I don 't know what," Cecil says. "I 'd probably be out on the street, in a shelter." (Euseary 2014). The minimum wage should be raised from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour because if you raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour it would lift people out of poverty, it would increase the federal purchasing power and not as many families struggling to make ends meet. Here’s another story, Enriqueta works as a housekeeper for minimum wage in the

A fifteen dollar an hour minimum wage will affect over three hundred thousand workers and cost over two hundred twenty eight million dollars over the next five years(Deng 1). San Francisco raised the minimum wage to fifteen dollars an hour. That being said The Mark Perry of the American Enterprise Institution, Adam Ozimek and Stephen Bronars of Edgewood Economics reported that since the increase many restaurants and hotels have laid off workers (Puzder 1). This comes as no surprise since in 2014 the Congressional Budget Office found that increasing the minimum wage to ten dollars and ten cents an hour would result in 500,000 job losses ( Puzder 1). As of right now 6.5 million Americans are working part time because they’re unable to find full-time jobs and opportunities ( Puzder 1). Raising minimum wage is only going to hurt those that are currently part time, unemployed and the upcoming generation of young adults just now about to enter the working

While I think that the minimum wage should be raised to $15.00 an hour, Mark Perry, a scholar at AEI and a professor of economics and finance at the University of Michigan 's Flint campus, argues “Seattle’s new minimum wage law takes effect April 1 but is already leading to restaurant closings and job losses” (Perry). Perry wants us to know that the Seattle’s new minimum wage law is “a government-mandated wage floor that guarantees reduced employment opportunities for many workers,” and increasing the minimum wage will surely leads to small business closing and job losses (Perry). However, what he said is erroneous, and a recent report written by Michael Hiltzik, an American columnist and reporter, won a beat reporting Pulitzer Prize in 1999 and won a Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism in 2004, also validated this statement.

Today, millions of American workers are denied their rights to consider forming a union since the process of voting on union formation has been corrupted. This has become an urgent crisis and a barrier to workers’ rights because they are frequently intimidated, harassed and even fired by their companies, which is blocking their freedoms and abilities to bargain for a better future. Therefore, the Organized Labour has made the Employee Free Choice Act, which helps workers remedy those problems from their employers. For further detail, a brief review of what the Employee Free Choice Act is and why it is important for workers’ rights follows.

My father came to this country in the late 90’s and had to work at McDonald’s and Taco Bell in order to make a living as he barely spoke any English. Getting paid an amount a little over $5 an hour at the time, did not stop him from being able to progress into becoming a successful business owner. “If you haven’t gotten a raise in the first year of working in a fast food place, you are doing something wrong” is what he tells me every time this debate comes to the news. Many of these workers have families that they must support and must fill their needs accordingly. Respectfully, these people are having children without having a stable job and finding themselves forced to

The fast food workers are being exploited and underpaid. They work long hours with very little pay and are treated horribly. As a matter of fact, “the industry’s wages are so low that even those front line employees who work 40 hours per week are often forced to rely on public assistance, and only 13 percent have access