Fast food workers have always suffered, but that's the same for cleaners and similar types of jobs. Companies should pay a minimum living wage. Sadly striking doesn't help in this situation, because it is unskilled work and they can find replacements. Strikes are only effective when you have bargaining power, or a company needs to build loyalty and improve it's image. As many places are closing down now, or reverting to being a drive-thru to cut down on staff, or pick up only, staff will suffer more, but if the costs are lowered shouldn't they increase the wages, or just keep more profits? That's ethically up to them as they tend to only do what the law tells them they have to do.
That is my opinion of this. NOBODY should be a fast food employee for very long without getting promoted.. The people who are ´staff´for many years are people with poor attendance records, anyone else gets promoted. Like many people, I worked my fair share of fast food jobs during college and the lifer-staffers were the worst ones to work with because they were always missing shifts. If they raise minimum wage, the only thing that is going to happen is those guys are going to be unemployed, not striking
Of course there are always trades one can get into, some being academic and some vocational. It would only take a little education. Are people unwilling to get an education, or is the tuition too high? I do know in my home state the government will pay for community college tuition.
Agreed. If you want to be paid $15-20 an hour right off the bat to work in fast food, be prepared for much higher unemployment in that industry, to have to do the work of 2-3 people, to see automation take over at least some of the jobs, plus having hours and benefits cut, far fewer restaurants to be able to open/survive, and for prices to be sky high. I've said before that I figured out very early in life that fast food was a shitty job. I worked for a burger joint for like 3 months during my freshman year of college until I got fed up and moved on to a grocery store job. If I could figure it out at 18, I really have to wonder about those who are far older who expect an entry level position at a fast food restaurant to be a career, and who expect to be making mid five figures or more in the biz without moving up into management, or becoming a trained chef in a better class of restaurant, or owning their own restaurants or whatever. They're just not very bright nor realistic.
Honestly it's not super difficult to find a decent paying job in the trades or in construction or other labor type jobs that will pay around $15 bucks an hour. But it's not easy work, and most job sites don't put up with lazy people or people who complain about dirty hard work.
Fast food work jobs are not ment for those who have a family. They are part time and or entry level jobs. Expecting to be paid $30,000 a year for this by saying, "How can I raise a family on $9" is like saying, "I dropped out of school and can't get anything better but Still want society to support me"
I worked in the fast food industry many years ago and I worked hard for every cent I made. Today I make triple the money I made back then and I don't work near as hard as I did then for minimum wage. You had to put up with the rudest of customers. You were talked down to and looked down upon because you worked at the fast food restaurant. I think $7.25 is a bit low to expect people to get by on. Here the minimum wage is now $10 an hour and to me that is reasonable. At that wage you can at least get by and survive. Somebody has to do those jobs and they should be paid a livable wage to do so.
There seems to be a lot of snobbishness on this thread as to what a fast food worker is expected to be paid. While to some a worker in the fast food industry or even a waitress might not be a high powered, executive job as a lawyer or a doctor, but does that mean they should have to work for a pittance? At the end of the day, jobs are hard to get and here in the UK there are a lot of students who quaify from university with a degree, can't get get a job in the field they're qualified in so are willing to take whatever jobs are available, if that's working in a fast food chain then so be it. It's a way of earning money while they are trying to get a better job, so why should they not be entitled to a living wage while they're trying?
Well, I know for a fact that fast food workers as well as waitresses/waiters dislike low wages and low tippers. You can say what you want, but keep it secret, cause they might spit on your food. Well, some of them might tolerate low wages, fast food workers for example, to an extent. However, everybody wants to make at least a little more than bottom wages.
