"We Can't Survive on $7.25!"

[leftstreet]

What's their beef? Striking fast food workers say low wages
Martha C. White NBC News contributor

You may find yourself waiting longer for McNuggets or a Whopper this week as thousands of workers in seven cities around the country strike for $15 an hour and the right to unionize.

Building on the momentum of an initial strike last November in New York City, organizers say dozens of restaurants in New York City, Chicago, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Kansas City, Detroit and Flint, Mich., will be affected by waves of worker walkouts over the course of the week.

“These workers need a raise and they need representation in the workplace,” said Martin Rafanan, community director for STL735. The acronym stands for “St. Louis Can’t Survive on $7.35,” referring to Missouri’s minimum wage. Rafanan said the group, which plans to strike today and tomorrow, hopes to build on a May strike when about 100 workers walked off the job.

At a McDonald's across the street from Yankee Stadium, several dozen people chanted, "We can't survive on $7.25."

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/whats-their-beef-striking-fast-food-workers-say-low-wages-6C10786787

Monday Jul 29, 2013 1:55 pm
Fast Food Strikes Catch Fire

Early this morning, fast food workers in New York, St. Louis and Kansas City, Mo. launched strikes demanding both a wage increase to $15 an hour—from a median of $8.94—and the right to form unions without employer interference.

Later this week, workers in Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit and Flint, Mich., will also go out on strike, expanding the reach of the movement of fast food workers (and, in Chicago, retail workers) that started with protests in New York and Chicago last year and grew into a series of one-day strikes throughout 2013. In Flint and Kansas City, strikes are taking place for the first time; in other cities, strikes will expand to target new franchises.

The fast food strikes are part of a broader movement by low-wage workers for higher pay and union representation that has caught fire over the past year.

Targets include a range of employers, including Wal-Mart, federal subcontractors, warehouses, retail stores and car washes. Workers have typically formed loose local organizing committees that, with financial and logistical support from unions and community groups are growing into national networks, most prominently OUR Walmart.

http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/15366/fast_food_slow_burn/

[Safetykitten]

1. Someone here should tell them to get a job at Costco. It's the Democratic thing to do.

[leftstreet]

2. ...

You know it!

[bvar22]

46. OR, they could design and build a new computer in their garage,

...and become BILLIONAIRES!!!!

Steve Jobs pulled himself up by his bootstraps,
so EVERYBODY should be able to do it too!!!!
I'm gonna start TODAY,
because I wannabe a Billionaire TOO,
so lets keep the government OFF the backs of the Job Creators!

What do you have against the "Free Market" and the Giant Invisible Hand?

[East Coast Pirate]

70. Steve Jobs didn't build the computer.

Woz did.

[ProSense]

3. Cool. From the first link:

An open letter signed by more than 100 economists and published this month by the University of Massachusetts, Amherst’s Political Economy Research Institute titled, “Economists in Support of a $10.50 U.S. Minimum Wage,” makes the case that raising wages would add just five cents to the price of a Big Mac.

Letter:

ECONOMISTS IN SUPPORT OF A $10.50 U.S. MINIMUM WAGE

July 2013

We, the undersigned professional economists, support the “Catching Up to 1968 Act of 2013,” spon-sored by Congressman Alan Grayson of Florida. This measure would raise the federal minimum wage from its current level of $7.25, established in 2009, to $10.50 per hour, and with automatic increases in-dexed to inflation thereafter.

As is conveyed by the title of the bill itself, the real, inflation-adjusted, value of the federal minimum wage has fallen dramatically over time. In 1968, the real value of the minimum wage was $10.65, so that, in fact, an increase today to a $10.50 federal minimum would not even bring the minimum wage fully back to the 1968 standard. Moreover, since 1968, average U.S. labor productivity has risen by 135 percent. Thus, if, since 1968, the U.S. minimum wage had only just kept up with inflation and average labor productivity growth, the minimum wage today would be $25.00. (References for all data cited in this petition can be found here: http://www.peri.umass.edu/fileadmin/pdf/resources/minwage_notesjune19.pdf).

- more -

http://www.peri.umass.edu/fileadmin/pdf/resources/Minimum_Wage_petition_website.pdf

Raise That Wage

By PAUL KRUGMAN

President Obama laid out a number of good ideas in his State of the Union address. Unfortunately, almost all of them would require spending money — and given Republican control of the House of Representatives, it’s hard to imagine that happening.

One major proposal, however, wouldn’t involve budget outlays: the president’s call for a rise in the minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $9, with subsequent increases in line with inflation. The question we need to ask is: Would this be good policy? And the answer, perhaps surprisingly, is a clear yes....the current level of the minimum wage is very low by any reasonable standard. For about four decades, increases in the minimum wage have consistently fallen behind inflation, so that in real terms the minimum wage is substantially lower than it was in the 1960s. Meanwhile, worker productivity has doubled. Isn’t it time for a raise?

Now, you might argue that even if the current minimum wage seems low, raising it would cost jobs. But there’s evidence on that question — lots and lots of evidence, because the minimum wage is one of the most studied issues in all of economics. U.S. experience, it turns out, offers many “natural experiments” here, in which one state raises its minimum wage while others do not. And while there are dissenters, as there always are, the great preponderance of the evidence from these natural experiments points to little if any negative effect of minimum wage increases on employment.

<...>

So Mr. Obama’s wage proposal is good economics. It’s also good politics: a wage increase is supported by an overwhelming majority of voters, including a strong majority of self-identified Republican women (but not men). Yet G.O.P. leaders in Congress are opposed to any rise. Why? They say that they’re concerned about the people who might lose their jobs, never mind the evidence that this won’t actually happen. But this isn’t credible...today’s Republican leaders clearly feel disdain for low-wage workers. Bear in mind that such workers, even if they work full time, by and large don’t pay income taxes (although they pay plenty in payroll and sales taxes), while they may receive benefits like Medicaid and food stamps. And you know what this makes them, in the eyes of the G.O.P.: “takers,” members of the contemptible 47 percent who, as Mitt Romney said to nods of approval, won’t take responsibility for their own lives.

- more -

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/18/opinion/krugman-raise-that-wage.html

Obama Says Income Gap Is Fraying U.S. Social Fabric
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023358509

Miller & Harkin Introduce Bill to Raise Minimum Wage to $10.10
http://www.democraticunderground.com/11172203

Tipped Minimum Wage Increase Would Give Millions Of Workers First Raise In 22 Years
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/25/tipped-minimum-wage-increase_n_3155656.html

[leftstreet]

5. I wonder why they won't start at the $15 the workers want?

Thanks for those links

[Starry Messenger]

4. k&r

[WillyT]

6. K & R !!!

[Liberal_in_LA]

7. Fast food is taking a hit this summer!

[Vashta Nerada]

8. I'm glad for them.

It's about time to raise the minimum wage! I want to see Walmart employees doing the same thing!

[TheDebbieDee]

9. I know one thing for sure - If you don't ask for more money, you DEFINITELY won't get it!

Just because you don't have to be Einstein to do a job doesn't mean you shouldn't be well-paid. Every job in a business is important or they wouldn't need someone to do it!

Also, a well-compensated employee cares enough about keeping the job to responsibly work through job-related problems that may arise instead of walking off the job in frustration.

One more platitude for employers/managers: You get what you pay for! If you continue to pay the least, you'll be saddled with the smallest efforts from your employees......cause that's what you paid for!

[phantom power]

51. "you don't get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate"

The longer I live, the more utterly true I've discovered that to be.

[GlashFordan]

10. Honest question

If they raise minimum wage to 15$/hr whats to stop Wendy's from buying Chinese conveyor belt burger flipping machines and replace the human who takes your order with an electronic kiosk made in Taiwan?

My point is... Corporations will always fight to defend profit. Jack up the minimum wage and they slash the workforce.

So what can really be done? Local ordinances requiring number of employees per gross income? How to do it?

[Dash87]

12. The technology doesn't exist. If it did, they would have been replaced anyways.

Machines invariably do simple tasks that can be repeated and don't require critical thinking much better than a human can. They also do it much cheaper.

To answer your question - we do the same thing we did with elevator operators - they just go and get a different type of job.

[Pelican]

24. It's coming though...

Order by voice or industrial strength touch pad; system in the back that is initially expensive but pays for itself in a few years with 10% of the original work force...

[duffyduff]

28. I am so sick of reading this neoliberal hogwash

about how "technology"--NOT horrible trade agreements or lousy D.C. leadership on the economy--is responsible for massive unemployment.

Let's stop with this globalist propaganda. NOW.

[Pelican]

29. I didn't say anything about that...

I said that eventually we will have the technology to the point where we don't need teenagers to flip the burgers or take the orders.

Draw from that what you will...

[leftstreet]

38. 'teenagers?'

You think minimum wage workers are teenagers?

[Pelican]

40. I should clarify...

Teenagers or their skill level equivalents... Effectively zero...

[Kingofalldems]

47. Well that's the republican side of this issue

[Rex]

50. I wonder how they explain Costco?

The trickle down economic horseshit needs to go. Obviously higher wages DOES NOT mean fewer jobs!

[Kingofalldems]

53. All their so-called economic theories are crap

Dressed up feudalism.

[HangOnKids]

66. I told you the wheels were coming off

Many of the boot strap crowd are growing restless and beginning to unravel.......stay tuned!

[Rex]

49. But elderly people are now flipping the burgers

and so are many adults that cannot find work elsewhere. Care to discuss this issue or going to stick with RWing talking points? Trickle down economics is a total failure. People should know this by now.

[JVS]

41. While trade agreements did cripple the US manufacturing industries, fast food wasn't effected by...

those agreements.

[Dash87]

34. Is that a bad thing, though? I don't think so.

The more efficient we make our society, the better.

Saying that robots will fully replace servers is like saying DVDs will put movie theaters out of business. It'll never happen.

[They_Live]

14. Corporations have also been paying lobbyists

to keep the minimum wage low over the years as the CEO pay increases dramatically. This is part of the reason most people are not earning enough.

[Iliyah]

22. Oh heck don't forget out sourcing please.

Which is still a hinder on American pay. Remember made in America??? Bring manufacturing back and fix infrastructure as well as school and other American issues - maybe, just maybe we can be on the road to "living wages" could be obtained although the 1% will fight wholeheartedly against it and they, the 1% have more resources. We the 99% can vote them out but alas VRA has been gutted.

Don't forget that Walmart are with others the pioneers of employee wage abuse at the same time securing monies from the US Government while their employees were given Medicaid applications.

[They_Live]

79. You're right. Encouraged by NAFTA and the even worse

upcoming TPP.

[leftstreet]

15. How they choose to sell their stuff is not our problem

If WendysMcDonaldsBurgerKing want to use machines instead of people, that's their choice.

But if they choose to use people, they need to pay them a livable wage

[usGovOwesUs3Trillion]

32. nonsense

how about they automate everything, huh?

Then who will buy their shit?

Think about it...

[PoliticAverse]

56. Actually McDonalds has replaced cashiers with computer tablets in some parts of the world...

http://news.cnet.com/mcdonalds-hires-7000-touch-screen-cashiers/8301-17938_105-20063732-1.html

And robots are finding their way into food preparation...

http://singularityhub.com/2009/08/03/the-robots-are-the-chefs-in-this-japanese-restaurant/

[ErikJ]

11. RWers say that jobs like that and min wage is for teens

for their first job. Yes, they even say that about Walmart.

[Glitterati]

13. Walmart doesn't hire anyone under 18

Ever.

[leftstreet]

16. None of the corporations being targeted hire teens

But yeah, I don't know why some people keep saying 'minimum wage is for teens'

[Pelican]

25. Mcdonald's doesn't hire teens?

[leftstreet]

48. Not many

McDonald's and other fast-food chains, once an entry point into the work force for teenagers, appear to be turning into an employer of more adults, a legacy of the recession, industry watchers said. The average age of a fast-food worker is 29.5, up from 22 in 2000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

http://www.katu.com/news/business/120260969.html

[Scootaloo]

65. Because that way they can dismiss the problem by pretending it's "allowance" instead of earned wage

As if "kids" don't deserve a fair wage for labor, anyway?

Plus it helps further classist mockery of adults in these jobs.

What's really amazing is that I've seen no shortage of DU'ers doing this

[HangOnKids]

67. Here is a direct quote from somebody upthread clarifying what he meant by teens

"Teenagers or their skill level equivalents... Effectively zero..." Isn't that swell?

[LongTomH]

77. At the rally in KC today, we heard from people who had worked in fast food for years.

There was a young man (I'd call him a kid; but, that's because I'm old!) who has worked for a fast food for 10 years. He frequently doesn't have food on the table; he rarely can take time off to see his daughter, and he doesn't have health care. He talked about the pain of broken molars that he can't afford to have fixed.

There was an older man, in his 50s, who's worked in fast food for decades. He has a similar and heartbreaking story.

We heard from UAW and SEIU union reps, well as our local State rep, and some representatives from faith communities.

I'm glad I was able to be there. I was a computer programmer before I retired; but, I spent some time as a low-wage worker after college, so I understand.

[MindMover]

17. EPI is already threatening to replace workers with text or touchscreen ordering ...

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Employment_Policies_Institute

The link above is to one of the most dangerous organizations in AMERICA .....

they are taking out full page ads in redneck land threatening worker rights ....

[leftstreet]

18. Until they do, they need to pay workers a living wage

That organization sounds weird!

[theHandpuppet]

19. This offers an idea for the next type of "survivalist" TV show

Each week we'd get treated to watching a group selected from the 1% whose challenge would be to survive on a 38 hour work week making 7.25 an hour. Drop them off in different locations -- downtown Detroit, a coal mining town in Appalachia, Washington, D.C.... see how long it takes them to turn into a quivering pile of tears or go postal. I can think of a long list of contestants I'd volunteer for THAT one.

[leftstreet]

20. That would actually be awesome

I'd watch it!

[reformist2]

26. That would be the best realitry show ever.

[Brigid]

62. Our thread winner.

That would definitely be must-see TV.

[Rex]

21. Nobody can. Not in America.

We also need to pay attention when the worlds largest corporation tells it's employees to get a second job. Food optional.

[reformist2]

23. We need to support them with a 'strike wage' of say $5 an hour that will help them strike longer.

[usGovOwesUs3Trillion]

27. They Should get $20 an Hour

If they are full time

[Pelican]

30. I'm sure the people with actual skill sets that worked their way to that wage...

.. will be thrilled.

Or are we going to double theirs as well?

New plan... Let's just double everyone's wages. That way we can all be rich!

[usGovOwesUs3Trillion]

31. Skilled workers should make double that

to start, of course.

[LanternWaste]

39. Or we could simply stand together, shoulder to shoulder to ensure that everyone who works receives a

"New plan... Let's just double everyone's wages. That way we can all be rich!"

Or we could simply stand together, shoulder to shoulder to ensure that everyone who works receives a livable wage.

Not quite as melodramatic as yours, I daresay, but it does allow for both accuracy in intent and historical precedence.

[leftstreet]

33. +1

[Bonobo]

35. Is there any sign of the President reaching for his comfortable shoes yet?

A LIVING WAGE should be the Democratic Party's top or at least one of the top 3 issues.

[RandiFan1290]

36. Nope

Last I heard he wants to cut taxes again for the poor corporations like YUM!

[Teamster Jeff]

37. KR

[theHandpuppet]

43. Check out this poll at the Cincinnati Enquirer

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/politics/2013/07/30/should-fast-food-workers-get-a-raise/

I can't believe the hostility of some of the folks who've posted comments there. Twice as many against the living wage than are for it.

[leftstreet]

44. Ah jeez

That's just ugly



Wouldn't be surprising if the majority of the 'no' people aren't making much more than minimum wage themselves

[Progressive dog]

45. Raise the minimum wage to where it was

at it's peak, as a start. Unless bad publicity hurts sales, the employers won't raise wages.

From Galegroup.com

As of early 2010, forty-five states and the District of Columbia had minimum wage laws, and thirty states and the District of Columbia had a higher minimum wage than the federal minimum wage of $7.25. Washington State’s minimum wage of $8.55 per hour was the highest of all the states. In addition, some counties and cities may have minimum wages set even higher.

[PoliticAverse]

57. The Federal minimum wage in 1968 was $1.60. This translates to $10.74 in 2013.

Historical minimum wage rates:
http://www.dol.gov/whd/minwage/chart.htm

$1.60 in 1968 converted to 2013:
http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=1.60&year1=1968&year2=2013

[BainsBane]

71. So you're happy living on that wage?

because to want to earn more would be "greedy," wouldn't it?

[Progressive dog]

80. That seems about right.

The employees would have more money to spend. Their spending would boost the economy. It's a win for everyone and it's also the right thing to do.

[enlightenment]

55. They do have reasonable expectations.

They expect to make a living wage.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

58. in nyc NO person with an iota of compassion thinks of $15/hr is asking for too much. nt

[leftstreet]

59. Well, we don't want 'them' to look greedy

That's for sure

[PD Turk]

60. calling working people greedy

Calling working people greedy for the last 30+ years while the executive class raked in more and more for themselves is what got us into our current mess. It's a right wing noise deflection scheme and it needs to stop. It's time for the people that do the hardest and most thankless work in our society to make something that resembles a living wage for their sweat and effort.

[Brigid]

61. And corporations aren't "greedy?"

[SomethingFishy]

64. Let me get this straight...

IF they are lucky enough to get a full week, 40 hours, that amounts to $600 a week before taxes. $2400 a month. And you think that sum is being "greedy".

Fucking Republicans claim in one breath that only teenagers work minimum wage jobs, then in the next breath berate anyone who is unemployed and doesn't want to take a minimum wage job, then without breathing at all claim that Americans are lazy.

$2400 a month is being greedy? You ever work in a hot kitchen? You ever have to clean a public restroom? Do you have any idea what the cost of living is in a city like NY or LA?

Greed is making 20 million a year plus bonuses then complaining that those horrible leeches that work for you are sucking you dry.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

73. "every" ? pretty broad brush there.

[SomethingFishy]

74. LMFAO..

You managed to tick off every Republican talking point in one sentence.

Here's one for you. My father worked for the same company for 30 years. The company was bought out and liquidated, everyone lost their jobs and their pensions. He had to take a job as a janitor because he was too old to get hired anywhere else. Yeah he made some bad choices, he trusted people. Probably someone like you. Gave them 30 fucking years of his life to end up mopping floors at an elementary school for 5 bucks an hour.

And if you think his case is unusual then you need to get out of the house more. Or stop watching Fox.
People like you are amazing. You look at someone who has been ripped off, screwed over, and raked over the coals and tell them they made "bad choices".

The truth is, some people do make bad choices. And your brilliant, innovative idea of dealing with that is to not pay them enough to live? I guess so you can call them lazy moochers because they need government assistance to survive. Blame all of the ills of the country on the guy working at fucking McDonalds.

I must admit, it does seem a little greedy. Wanting to make enough money to live. Hell if corporations had to actually pay a living wage their CEO's might have to suffer greatly with the silver faucets on their yacht instead of the gold ones.


You may want to read this: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023365065 and learn something.

[cyberswede]

75. Well, if everyone YOU know is that way, it must be universal.

[Posteritatis]

68. The employees aren't the greedy ones here. (nt)

[Cali_Democrat]

54. K&R

[smallcat88]

69. Can't live on $8.25 either

And it's all very well to say get a job somewhere else but you have to get a callback first, then be better than everyone else in the interview and all this in an economy that's still struggling to recover from the mess these same greedy bastards created in the first place. I'm working part-time, making $8.25/hr, and I've been looking for another job for years. Back in the days when I could walk in and fill out a paper application I never had trouble getting a job. I just made sure to only hand in the application on a day when whoever I needed to talk to was in and had time to talk to me. These days everyplace I go it's the same thing - they tell me to apply over the internet. You can't make an impression that way. It's hard to stand out in the middle of hundreds or thousands of online applications which probably all look alike to whoever is reading them. I know kids, far less reliable than I am who get jobs I applied for then turn around and quit them because they can't handle or don't like the work; which would not have been a problem for me. The whole system is flawed. And frustrating.

[JBoy]

76. Romney had the solution, if only he'd been elected.

Get a loan from your parents to start your own business.

[athenasatanjesus]

78. "Humans" can't survive on 7.25 per hr ,workers can.