Fast Food workers declare minimum wage "unlivable"

Oh this is some bull(*)(*)(*)(*) right here.

First of all the bad workers don't have to pay the same as the good workers, the bad workers can be fired.

Second of all, if the system you described actually worked then you would see SOME McDonalds employees making $15 an hour because I think we can all agree that with 14,000 stores it is very unlikely that they don't have at least some hourly employees who are worth FAR more than what they are paying. but they don't. In fact McDonalds franchisees usually have a MAXIMUM amount that they pay hourly as well as a minimum. Meaning no matter how good of an employee you are you have a ceiling.

That isn't a free market LOL

We are NOT a free market.

As for why people take those jobs, well duh. $7.25 an hour > $0.00 an hour. If you were to open a burger joint across the street from McDonalds paying $10 an hour don't you think most of those min wage workers would be trying to get the hell out of McDonalds?

Oh, here's another thing for you to think about to. McDonalds corporation encourages its franchisees to fire employees who are actively seeking other employment. So if you ARE interested in bettering your situation you better not let McDonalds find out, and you know why they do that? To discourage good employees from leaving for better pay so that they can have the best employee for the lowest price.

 

Well you might be interested in knowing that I am against minimum wage laws, but I am also against some sorry POS business owner who will deliberately undercut his employees income because they know the government will fill in the slack. This is the number one reason the rich are getting rich and the poor get a choice between being a french fry cook or a checker at wallyworld if they want to work and at least try to be a productive member of society. Those are the jobs people are fighting for, which makes them jobs people need to survive on. And even if they attempt to be self sufficient, even though we know that isn't possible with those jobs under the current cost of living, blaming them for the state of the union is like kicking the dog every time grandma farts.


All the real jobs have either been shipped over seas, to Mexico, or automated, for the soul purpose of maximizing profits for the already rich, and the best government corporate money can buy is making that trend possible.

 

He wasn't really attacking the little girl, you know. He was attacking a picture of a cute little girl, who's cuteness was being exploited to make a political point. The picture as used is very fair game, and no little girls will be harmed if it is attacked.

Now what this thread needs is less wank and more data.

 

Actually, some CEOs have cut their pay to zero in times of crisis and still they lived well.

 

Aye, good point!

 

The options would be easier to consider if the floor was $10.50 per hour.

Why are all decision makers on this forum from the right?

 

Well, rather they WOULD be good points if in fact any of that happened at any point that the minimum wage was raised, because EVERY time an increase has been discussed the same old arguments have been trotted out and rejected and the wage increased and oh come to find out, no such things happened.

It's funny that self checkouts have been brought up, does anyone realize that not one single Wal Mart employee has actually been replaced by a self checkout register?

It's true. Remember back in the day when you would walk into your Super Center and they would have 40 registers, 4 of which were opened. Now you walk into your Super Center and they have 30 registers, 4 of which are open, and 10 self check out registers.

 

The ones who are sabotaging the economy can be found in the White House and the Congress. Their hubris and ignorance will be the undoing of our market economy, the fools.

 

maybe you missed it, minimum wage earners do NOT make up a large segment of the population. Only 4.7% of ALL hourly wage earners in 2012 made minimum wage according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Minimum wage earners are the exact opposite of your statement, they are a very small segment of wage earners.

 

Try running your own business someday and maybe you'll understand what a burden taxes and regulations can be.

 

How about the "greeter" at Walmart. They just stand there. They do absolutely nothing, they DON'T EVEN GREET YOU! I literally have to get in their face and say "HELLO!!" to get an acknowledgement of my existence.

Do you know what they have at the ASDA (UK Walmart) I noticed.. First of all there are like fifty people standing around doing nothing. And then they have somebody whose job it is to hold a sign pointing at which register is available or has the shortest queue.. Like people can't see?!!? And yet, only half the tills are staffed, and there's a long ass line to check out?!?! When it's really busy, they don't even hold up their sign anymore.. There's no short queue to point to. So they just stand there. They even try to hide their sign so you don't notice their job is to hold up the sign. Looks like they are misappropriating their manpower.

 

Love how people do stupid, stupid things and then whine when others won't give them more money to fix it.

 

IRRELEVANT.

What percentage of workers earn <$9.27 an hour , which is where the minimum wage SHOULD be?

 

Birther and hater is one post. No evidence. Just hateful words.

No, he is asking the religious right that claims babies are being murdered but would let children starve.

 

Try some more up-to-date stats (from the same site):

Notice what it says about how many people make minimum wage...just 4.7% of ALL hourly wage workers. Also, notice in the bolded section where the overall majority of those minimum wage jobs are.

In 2012, 75.3 million workers in the United States age 16 and over were paid at hourly rates, representing 59.0 percent of all wage and salary workers. 1 Among those paid by the hour, 1.6 million earned exactly the prevailing federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. About 2.0 million had wages below the federal minimum.2 Together, these 3.6 million workers with wages at or below the federal minimum made up 4.7 percent of all hourly paid workers. Tables 1 through 10 present data on a wide array of demographic and socioeconomic characteristics for hourly paid workers earning at or below the federal minimum wage. The following are some highlights from the 2012 data.

Minimum wage workers tend to be young. Although workers under age 25 represented only about one-fifth of hourly paid workers, they made up about half of those paid the Federal minimum wage or less. Among employed teenagers paid by the hour, about 21 percent earned the minimum wage or less, compared with about 3 percent of workers age 25 and over. (See table 1 and table 7.)

In 2012, 6 percent of women paid hourly rates had wages at or below the prevailing federal minimum, compared with about 3 percent of men. (See table 1.)

About 5 percent of White, Black, and Hispanic or Latino hourly paid workers earned the federal minimum wage or less. Among Asian workers paid at hourly rates, about 3 percent earned the minimum wage or less. (See table 1.)

Among hourly paid workers age 16 and over, about 10 percent of those who had less than a high school diploma earned the federal minimum wage or less, compared with about 4 percent of those who had a high school diploma (with no college) and about 2 percent of college graduates. (See table 6.)

Never-married workers, who tend to be young, were more likely than married workers to earn the federal minimum wage or less (about 8 percent versus about 2 percent). (See table 8.)

About 11 percent of part-time workers (persons who usually work less than 35 hours per week) were paid the federal minimum wage or less, compared with about 2 percent of full-time workers. (See table 1 and table 9.)

By major occupational group, the highest proportion of hourly paid workers earning at or below the federal minimum wage was in service occupations, at about 12 percent. About three-fifths of workers earning the minimum wage or less in 2012 were employed in service occupations, mostly in food preparation and serving related jobs. (See table 4.)

The industry with the highest proportion of workers with hourly wages at or below the federal minimum wage was leisure and hospitality (about 19 percent). About half of all workers paid at or below the federal minimum wage were employed in this industry, the vast majority in restaurants and other food services. For many of these workers, tips and commissions supplement the hourly wages received. (See table 5.)

The states with the highest proportions of hourly paid workers earning at or below the federal minimum wage were Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, and Idaho (all between 7 and 8 percent). The states with the lowest percentages of hourly paid workers earning at or below the federal minimum wage were Alaska, Oregon, California, Montana, and Washington (all under 2 percent). It should be noted that some states have minimum wage laws establishing standards that exceed the federal minimum wage. (See table 2 and table 3.)

The proportion of hourly paid workers earning the prevailing federal minimum wage or less declined from 5.2 percent in 2011 to 4.7 percent in 2012. This remains well below the figure of 13.4 percent in 1979, when data were first collected on a regular basis. (See table 10.)

 

Why do people like you use percentages instead of number of people? Is it to dehumanize your arguments? 45 million Americans would benefit from a minimum wage of $10.50.

 

The right's solution to everything. 5.6 million people should join the military. There are not enough slots and we are trying to reduce military spending.

 

I noticed that too. It made no sense. Some people would rather complain about everyone else's comments.... instead of contributing anything worthwhile

 

$10.50 is too high. To win the argument, some are going to have to accept a more reasonable figure. That number is the correct adjustment for inflation over the years. $9.27 an hour.

 

Dire predictions are the hallmark of the right. Can't fight about the issue so go to the dire predictions.

 

3.5 million of ALL hourly wage earners in 2012 made minimum wage according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

 

Not really. at first im sure it sounds nice but then they start complaining they cant get any better. Nothng is better than gaining more and more experience than sitting on your ass not learning anything. Plus, that attitude that you just described is a huge burden on our tax dollars and it helps nobody.

OWS type losers demand such things. And great for you, thats awesome you make that much money. Im not complaining about what i make, my weekly job is all on me and depends on how hard i work to what i bring in from it, pretty much have it easy because in 3 days i can bring in $700 and pretty much goof off the rest of the week. My night jobs on Friday and Saturday is another $200 and my 3 hour job on saturday morning nets about $150. So yeah you may think i have to truly bust my ass because i have 3 jobs, but all in all i only truly work about 25-30 hours, the rest of the time im doing whatever it is i want too lol.

Like right now, i just got done with a job at the shop, pulled a motor out of a honda and threw another one back in and made my $400. so now im at home and gonna take a break until 2 or 3 and go back and do a timing belt and be done by 4:30 and add on another $125 for (*)(*)(*)(*)s and giggles. Wasnt always this way, like other hard working people i had to make my way up to be able to do something like this. But if i wanted, i could wreck what you made in one week in 4 days if i actually worked full 8 hour days.

why do they need a prius? why not a small scion since they are much cheaper? why not a kia soul which is only $14k new? why not a nice used car you can get for under $10k?

why not work your way up instead of acting like a living wage is owed to you? you earn your money in the real world, you dont get it because you just want it.

 

Most small businesses are exempt from minimum wage requirements.

 

This is true, and conversely an employee shouldn't automatically just be worth $X simply because a company has said they are.


The current minimum wage is essentially two wolves and sheep deciding what's for dinner.

 

We'll have to agree to disagree.

Under Federal Law, they can be permanently replaced, but have to be put on a list for preferential hiring before anyone else can be hired.

They'll probably get the $15 per hour and better benefits too.

For someone who would never eat there you seem to know an awful lot about it.

I do, helps with the digestion.