Friday, September 5, 2014

Fast Foods Day of Judgement .

Nation wide protests against McDee's  is an attempt
to unionize fast workers .
One of the freedoms Americans have is the right to freely assemble in protest . That "freedom" is a bit precarious these days with signs of social unrest , with military style police squads cracking down  . The people are taking action across the nation to demand that fast Food Chain  McDonald’s .U.S. fast-food workers staged protests in some 150 cities on Thursday in a fight for higher pay, and organizers said more than 450 were arrested from Manhattan's Times Square to Los Angeles.About 400 protesters clogged Times Square during morning rush hour in the latest of ongoing actions aimed at raising their wage to $15 an hour.They hoisted placards reading "Stick together for $15 and union rights," and some held a sit-in at a McDonald's restaurant, prompting 19 arrests for disorderly conduct .  I agree that with the cost of living in the nation has gone up . We do need to "raise" the level of  the quality of living in the nation . Example of this is that I heard today that when the first President Bush was in office  the cost of a gallon of gas was 1.69 $ (nationwide except Ca)  a stamp was 25 Cents . True things are costing more , looking at those little things we take for granite like stamps , gas . It shows that we have had a runaway inflation   that is part of the economic disease  . SO the cure of the sick economy MAY NOT be WEALTH DISTRIBUTION , but more simplistic . Let's give everyone a chance to earn more , and afford more . Way back in the 1980's I was working , and going to school at the same time . My first job was at McDonald's washing dishes at closing shift every Friday . ***The best I got for 3 hrs was 3.35 an hour with no breaks , and I was not then entitled to a meal either . TIMES have changed . I can understand the frustration of the protesters , but LOGICALLY McDonald's can't pay it's workers any higher than the state's minimum wage , but another notice my readers WALMART pay's better , and it pays benefits after the hires worked past their probation periods . (1).  Here in the U.S., protesters are fighting to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 per hour to $15, arguing that wages often don't even meet the basic costs of living. With the median wage for front-line fast food workers at $8.69 per hour, about 52 percent of American front-line fast food workers also rely on government assistance programs to meet basic needs, according to a recent study by the National Employment Law Project. This ultimately costs tax payers $3.8 billion to subsidize worker pay from the 10 largest fast food companies and $1.2 billion from McDonald's alone. The other issue is that "...The downside? McDonald's food [in Denmark] is significantly more expensive; a Big Mac there set you back $5.18 as of January 2014, compared to $4.62 in the U.S...." In the US the costs of food production has gone up . Taking notice to this I found that In the debate over what fast food workers are paid and what health care and other benefits they receive, McDonald’s has contended that its franchisees – the owners who operate individual restaurants – are liable for labor and wage issues, not the parent company.But a ruling by the National Labor Relations Board in July rebutted the argument, when the board’s general counsel found that McDonald’s could be held jointly liable for violations by franchise operators.  There's no easy solution. The cries about raising the minimum wage are exactly the same that we hear every time the minimum wage is hiked -- it will drive prices sky high, businesses will fold . Obama raised the minimum wage of federal workers to $10.10. (About a dozen states have raised the minimum above that, without businesses folding or fleeing.) That figure -- $10.10 -- wasn't arbitrary. It what the current minimum would have bought if it had kept up with inflation. NO WONDER our American economy is weak , here is the awful truth.  These low-wage industries are among the fastest-growing job sectors in our economy. The number of home health aide jobs is expected to grow by 48 percent in the next 10 years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Fast food is expected to be the fifth-fastest-growing occupation during the same period, according to Demos, a think tank focused on low-wage workers. "Fast-food workers are the public face of our part-time, low-wage economy. " 

NOTES AND COMMENTARY:
(1) .McDonald's in western Auckland  which in New Zealand is $14.25 NZD, or roughly $12.35 in U.S. dollars. ***  Back in the 1980's I would have loved the minimum wage  of $8.25 an hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, fast food workers are at just about the very bottom of American earners. Worst of all the fast food "business" is  made up out "part time workers" , so 15 dollars an hour for 3 hours may not pay off your mortgage . You are not getting $15/hour Burger Jockeys. Sorry. These jobs are temporary positions, not CAREERS. Want a better job fry cooks? Get off your ass and go to school or learn a trade that makes you more valuable. 

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