Fast-food workers strike nationwide in protest against wages

OWS II begins....



Hundreds of protesters across the US marched Thursday to demand higher wages for fast-food workers, forcing the closure of one McDonald's in Detroit after its employees walked out.

The protests are underway in cities including New York, Boston and Chicago, and organizers are expecting the biggest national walkouts yet.

A McDonald's restaurant in Detroit closed Thursday morning as workers and protesters chanted "hey hey, ho ho, $7.40's got to go," outside, WJBK reports.

In New York, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn joined about 300 to 400 protesters in a march before flooding inside a McDonald's near the Empire State Building on Thursday morning. Shortly after the demonstration, however, the restaurant seemed to be operating normally and a few customers said they hadn't heard of the movement. The same was true at a McDonald's a few blocks away.

The lack of awareness among some illustrates the challenge workers face. Participating workers, who are asking for $15 an hour, still represent a tiny fraction of the industry. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, which works out to about $15,000 a year for full-time employees.

The movement comes amid calls from the White House, some members of Congress and economists to hike the federal minimum wage. But most proposals seek a far more modest increase than the one workers are asking for, with President Barack Obama wanting to boost it to $9 an hour.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Associate Press, Labor Secretary Thomas Perez said the strikes are another sign of the need to raise the minimum wage for all workers. He compared the protests to the demands of demonstrators in the 1963 March on Washington, who sought a national minimum wage to give workers better living standards.

"For all too many people working minimum wage jobs, the rungs on the ladder of opportunity are feeling further and further apart," said Perez, who's taking a lead role in Obama's push to boost the minimum wage.

The Service Employees International Union, which represents more than 2 million works in health care, janitorial and other industries, has been providing financial support and training for local organizers around the country.

Organizers say the strikes will hit more than 50 cities on Thursday, following a series of strikes that began last November in New York City. The biggest effort so far was over the summer when about 2,200 of the country's millions of fast-food workers staged a one-day strike in seven cities.

Ryan Carter, a 29-year-old who was walking out of the McDonald's where workers demonstrated on Thursday, said he "absolutely" supported workers demand for higher wages.

"They work harder than the billionaires in this city," he said. But Carter, who was holding a cup of the chain's coffee he bought for $1, said he didn't plan to stop his regular trips to McDonald's.

McDonald's Corp. and Burger King Worldwide Inc. say they don't make decisions about pay for the independent franchisees that operate the majority of their U.S. restaurants. Wendy's and Yum Brands Inc., which owns KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, did not respond to requests for comment.

Workers were also expected to walk off their jobs in cities including Atlanta, Boston, Hartford, Conn., Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Many targeted restaurants will likely be able to stay open, however. The strikes were announced earlier, giving managers time to adjust staffing levels.

Click for more from MyFoxDetroit.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/08/29/fast-food-workers-to-strike-nationwide-over-wages/

 

I made a sammich at home to stay healthy.

 

HAHAHA, I actually went to Micky D's today...no protests there. They actually got my order correct this time, for a change.

 

I don't understand why they're mad at their employers, it's Obama and the democrats trying to legalize millions of workers from foreign countries willing to work for a lot less than $7.50 an hour.

 

Soon to be replaced by robots for a tenth of the cost . Not to many intelligent fast food workers.

 

I always support peoples right to protest but asking for $15 an hour is nuts.

 

You suck at haggling. They know they can't get 15 bucks an hour. That's the point. You start high then the employer lowballs it, then you either bring your bid down or keep it depending on how much of a lowball they threw out there. Rinse and repeat until the magic $10.50/h is reached which would bring it back up to the actual value of minimum wage to be able to (barely) live on at 40 hours a week.

 

With mandatory insurance laws going into effect next year, the cost of living running out of control for everything except stagnating wages, how is this nuts?

 

You're still too high

And I'm actually for raising the minimum wage, to a reasonable $9.27 an hour , but these people are a joke. Don't act like they are some great negotiators. If they were they would have at least attempted to talk to someone before their big "strike" LOL

 

Because its not 15 dollar an hour labor , a trained monkey could do it cheaper . Robots will replace the workers eventually anyways .

 

So starting workers are demanding almost double min wage and you dont see that as nuts? So say your average Fast food employee gets this $7 an hour raise what do you think comes next for the mangement staff do they also almost double their salary?

 

Where is the strength in their bargaining position? Its not like they aren't all replaceable within a day or two, not really seeing them getting one red cent for a raise...

 

They don't have any position of power , they can be quickly replaced by any highschooler in the world .

 

Sadly more and more older adults are having to take these jobs or take it as a second job.

 

This is true and of course proves the point why the government is going to have to step in. These people have no power and it is we the taxpayer who are subsidizing their low wages with welfare.

Ridiculous.


of course striking and demanding $15 is equally ridiculous.

 

I'd fire all their asses and get the robots. These people think flipping burgers should get them 15 bucks an hour??? Detroit is the big one. These people live in a city that is broke and lucky to have a job at all, now they want double pay.

 

Maybe in BFE, you can get by on $9.27. It's still lower than it should be.

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42973.pdf

 

The real issue is the first word in the title of that PDF ... Raising the min wage does not address the issue.

 

Someone is going to have to explain to me how pushing a button and fries dropping in a basket, picking up said basket and putting the fries in the fryer, waiting 4 minutes, dumping them in a bin, adding salt and scooping them in a plastic container is worth 15.00 an hour. If that is the case, then I need a raise to about 60 or 70 dollars an hour. Its an entry level job, not meant to be a career.

 

Which is the problem with business practices these days. Business have the power, not the people. It's supposed to be simbiosis where they depend on each other to make a profit. The scales over the last 40 years have been tipped to favor only businesses. Why do you think a person with a college education and 10 years experience in a field has to fight to make 30 dollars an hour? That same job 40 years ago would be worth 80 dollars an hour today for someone with that experience and education. Worker rights have been laid to waste. And by the way, what highschooler is going to work the morning shift, might I ask, if they're supposed to be in school during the day?

 

WRONG. It may be Obama's problem now, but 43 threw the gates open at the behest of McCain and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in their attempt to provide cheap labor for "jobs Americans don't want to do." I believe that quote was actually uttered by Bush. Bush didn't give a crap whether those workers were legal or not.

 

And see now we come to why I hope these people all get fired and get nothing. Offer them something reasonable and it isn't good enough.

$19281 a year is PLENTY for someone working a minimum wage job. Too bad if you can't live the hip hop lifestyle on it.

(*)(*)(*)(*)ing idiotic morons are just ruining this country.

 

You got a robot that can make beds in a motel? Or trim my hedges?

 

I like to post fact sheets from opposing viewpoints to illustrate what my statement is when I can so my source cannot be disputed. If the other side puts out information with mirrors the opposition, then it should be sourced in a debate. The table itself points to what I was saying in that 9 bucks and some change is still too low.

 

Well if it works the way it should work, the wages/salaries at the top should be adjusted to accommodate the new added costs of labor, unless the management can somehow maintain a profitable business by selling $20 meal combos. I don't see either happening do you? In fact most of these people will probably become a burden on the tax payers as they are replaced and illegal aliens find new employment opportunities at half the wages American workers are receiving now and the management, well they will be rewarded with higher salaries and more benefits out of the deal. Don't you worry about management they always come out shining.