US fast-food workers plan strike to demand $15-an-hour minimum wage

[Purrrrrr 18,407]

12 hours ago, Dulo Peep said:

i would love to work on a fast food place, at lease for like a week. To have my cute little costume, greet customers, be super polite, professional and cute, it must be very fun idk

GURL no 

cute little costume that you feel humiliated in whilst customers treat you like absolute crap because they all think it's the easiest job when it is the complete opposite

[bionic 50,111]

Sadly this will be ineffective as fast-food workers are perceived as 'low skill' jobs meaning that they are easily replaceable, and Lorde knows that thousands (if not millions) are desperately looking for a job, any job, right now.

[Economy 53,090]

15 hours ago, Chromatican said:

This is great. Fast-food jobs are difficult and low pay. We need a $15 (at least) federal minimum wage yesterday.

I don't know how I feel about the US doing Federal

 

Cost of living and economy varies so much from place to place that it's hard to come up with an ideal standard for the entire nation

 

In a small town in Kansas $15/h might be to much for small businesses to manage... In downtown Manhattan, Los Angeles or San Francisco ppl will still struggle big time with $15/h

 

Trying to apply a flat rate to the entire nation seems like a bad idea to me.

 

Here in Canada we haven't talked about a federal minimum wages in practically a lifetime. Just let Provinces decide what's best for their regions

 

I think better than a flat rate would be some kind of federal minimum but with a formula that takes into account cost of living and GDP and stuff so that stubborn States that don't wanna raise it still have to if they fall below that threshold

 

But it wouldn't force the same regions of small towns of Kansas or Arizona to have the same standard of minimum wage as the most expensive parts of New York or California

[Economy 53,090]

15 hours ago, dollardays said:

Same but for $4 an hour in Portugal 

The cost of living in Portugal is not comperable to North America tho. Regular everyday store items are just as expensive because most of it is imported but everything else is cheaper.

 

I would know. I've lived in both and still go back every few years to visit my family

 

I would say overall pan for pan we are still better off in North America because the difference in wages is still larger than the difference in cost of living...

 

I'm just saying the numbers are a bit if apples to oranges cuz $4/h still gets u more in Portugal than it does here in North America

 

Just one example, typical car insurance rates where I live are a solid 6X to 10X higher than in Portugal. My brother is paying over $700/month (just under 500 euros). My city is one of the very worst if not the worst in Canada for car insurance but still

[WhiteWitch 720]

Now? Even though Biden announced that as part of his stimulus plan and we have the house and probably senate support? Ok?

[WhiteWitch 720]

7 hours ago, Economy said:

I don't know how I feel about the US doing Federal

 

Cost of living and economy varies so much from place to place that it's hard to come up with an ideal standard for the entire nation

 

In a small town in Kansas $15/h might be to much for small businesses to manage... In downtown Manhattan, Los Angeles or San Francisco ppl will still struggle big time with $15/h

 

Trying to apply a flat rate to the entire nation seems like a bad idea to me.

 

Here in Canada we haven't talked about a federal minimum wages in practically a lifetime. Just let Provinces decide what's best for their regions

 

I think better than a flat rate would be some kind of federal minimum but with a formula that takes into account cost of living and GDP and stuff so that stubborn States that don't wanna raise it still have to if they fall below that threshold

 

But it wouldn't force the same regions of small towns of Kansas or Arizona to have the same standard of minimum wage as the most expensive parts of New York or California

The minimum wage in the US should be $24 an hour if adjusted for inflation. There is zero argument against increasing the minimum wage. If companies can’t afford to pay a living wage, they shouldn’t hire. Business isn’t a get rich quick scheme or a front for wage theft like capitalism likes to think. 

[Squidward T 2,470]

No.offense, but no one is forcing you to work these jobs. You have 2 options for higher pay, work your ass off and work your way up to a higher position or get an education/learn a trade to find a better paying job. What about all the people who worked their way up to 15 an hour. Are they going to get raises as well or get paid the same salary as someone that just started? 

[Squidward T 2,470]

4 minutes ago, WhiteWitch said:

The minimum wage in the US should be $24 an hour if adjusted for inflation. There is zero argument against increasing the minimum wage. If companies can’t afford to pay a living wage, they shouldn’t hire. Business isn’t a get rich quick scheme or a front for wage theft like capitalism likes to think. 

And people shouldn't take jobs that pay 10 an hour if we are following the same argument. 

[uo111 5,285]

23 hours ago, POP A 911 said:

I support raising minimum wage, but as soon as it gets raised, everything else shoots way up in price. It’s just a giant game of catch up

No it doesn’t, wages are only a portion of the expenses businesses have and the more people who have money to spend, the more money businesses make.

This is a talking point that just doesn’t hold fruit if you think about it for a few minutes. Even if prices go up, it will be not because poor people are making slightly more money, but because rich people know they can raise prices and blame it on poor people, all the while making millions/billions more.

[gabeoz 7,915]

1 minute ago, Squidward T said:

No.offense, but no one is forcing you to work these jobs. You have 2 options for higher pay, work your ass off and work your way up to a higher position or get an education/learn a trade to find a better paying job. What about all the people who worked their way up to 15 an hour. Are they going to get raises as well or get paid the same salary as someone that just started? 

People take the jobs they can, if someone is already struggling to feed themself when working 40+ hour work weeks, how are you going to expect them to find the time, money and energy to attend a school? "Work your way to the top" is a terrible argument, if you're already being extremely underpaid, the raises will almost never be enough. So many general managers for these places dont even make $15/hr. What are they supposed to do when they're already at the top and still can barely make ends meet? And absolutely the people who are making slightly more than the others should be paid more as well, this what-about-ism doesnt work and just further proves the issue. Why dont we stop blaming the people who just want to make ends meet and blame the culture and leaders who allow this to happen in the first place?

I'm so f*cking tired of this toxic mentality that if you dont like your pay then just leave and find another job, if they could then they would. Stop blaming the workers for p*ss poor wages they have no control over. 

[uo111 5,285]

8 minutes ago, Squidward T said:

No.offense, but no one is forcing you to work these jobs. You have 2 options for higher pay, work your ass off and work your way up to a higher position or get an education/learn a trade to find a better paying job. What about all the people who worked their way up to 15 an hour. Are they going to get raises as well or get paid the same salary as someone that just started? 

Actually, campaigning for increased minimum wage is a reasonable and worthwhile option to pursue so, I don’t know where you got this “only 2 options” thing. 
 

No one worked their way up to $15 an hour in these jobs. And yes, if people working other jobs could leave and make $15 an hour at “easier” jobs, they would and should. Jobs that pay $15 an hour just because the alternatives pay less will need to raise how much they pay too and that’s a GOOD thing.

The only bad thing is wealth hoarding, paying lower income people more is good for society. Uber rich people is bad for society.

[gabeoz 7,915]

23 hours ago, POP A 911 said:

I support raising minimum wage, but as soon as it gets raised, everything else shoots way up in price. It’s just a giant game of catch up

This isn't true at all. Price raises would be minimal (if any at all), companies would have to raise their prices by a few cents to keep their already often huge profit margin. Prices already go up year by year with stagnant wages. Any wage increase would far out-benefit any small price increase.

[Squidward T 2,470]

On 1/17/2021 at 6:41 PM, gabeoz said:

People take the jobs they can, if someone is already struggling to feed themself when working 40+ hour work weeks, how are you going to expect them to find the time, money and energy to attend a school? "Work your way to the top" is a terrible argument, if you're already being extremely underpaid, the raises will almost never be enough. So many general managers for these places dont even make $15/hr. What are they supposed to do when they're already at the top and still can barely make ends meet? And absolutely the people who are making slightly more than the others should be paid more as well, this what-about-ism doesnt work and just further proves the issue. Why dont we stop blaming the people who just want to make ends meet and blame the culture and leaders who allow this to happen in the first place?

I'm so f*cking tired of this toxic mentality that if you dont like your pay then just leave and find another job, if they could then they would. Stop blaming the workers for p*ss poor wages they have no control over. 

You just stated that the workers who already get paid more should get paid more but where does that end? Are we going to raise everyone's wages? Also, if you raise the wages of all these workers you know what is going to happen, the price of everything if going to go up. So yes, you will get paid more but good luck paying 15.00 for a meal at McDonald's or 35.00 for a t-shirt at Walmart. Paying more to workers is a loss for the corporations so they need to make that money up somehow. You could argue that tax cuts could help corporations pay more to their workers but we all know Biden is going to raise taxes on corporations so there goes that plan.. As I said, the best way to make more money is to go to school or learn a trade. Basic fast food workers are mostly high school jobs anyway unless you are in supervisory/management positions. 

Anyone that has a problem with what I said, just keep in mind I have a degree in economics. 🙄

[FATCAT 60,938]

On 1/16/2021 at 5:45 PM, Stephen said:

Should be even higher...

True, but most workers make over minimum wage (somewhere around $10, for new hires) so while the minimum may change, it doesn't mean that everyone will be reset. 

[FATCAT 60,938]

9 minutes ago, Squidward T said:

You just stated that the workers who already get paid more should get paid more but where does that end? Are we going to raise everyone's wages? Also, if you raise the wages of all these workers you know what is going to happen, the price of everything if going to go up. So yes, you will get paid more but good luck paying 15.00 for a meal at McDonald's or 35.00 for a t-shirt at Walmart. Paying more to workers is a loss for the corporations so they need to make that money up somehow. You could argue that tax cuts could help corporations pay more to their workers but we all know Biden is going to raise taxes on corporations so there goes that plan.. As I said, the best way to make more money is to go to school or learn a trade. Basic fast food workers are mostly high school jobs anyway unless you are in supervisory/management positions. 

Anyone that has a problem with what I said, just keep in mind I have a degree in economics. 🙄

Minimum wage is about sustainable living. If someone can't go home after working a 40 hr work week and feed their family, that's not a livable wage. Companies may pass this on to the consumer to fit their profit margin, but the second they go back to competing for your meal the prices will get lower. If these companies can't support paying a living wage to their employees, they don't deserve to survive for profit.