fast food strikers gain momentum

[InRareForm]

http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/economix/2013/08/29/marching-at-mcdonalds-for-a-15-wage/

[TSA]

Was watching the news last night and they were interviewing the picketers........18 of the 20 they interviewed were not even fast food workers but rather paid union workers posing as fast food workers.:lol

I hate fast food and rarely if ever eat it, but I hope they don't give in to the bullshit demands of their uneducated workers. They have stacks of applications of people willing to work for the current wage, let the bums walk.

[InRareForm]

I don't understand the number 15. Its a slap in the face to the hard construction worker making 16/hr in the 90/100 heat

[symple19]

I don't understand the number 15. Its a slap in the face to the hard construction worker making 16/hr in the 90/100 heat

You shoot high and then hope for $10-$12, which is much more reasonable, imo

[AntiChrist]

I don't understand the number 15. Its a slap in the face to the hard construction worker making 16/hr in the 90/100 heat


No kidding

[cantthinkofanything]

You shoot high and then hope for $10-$12, which is much more reasonable, imo

Fine. I hope they give it to them and then maybe people will start eating healthier food because they had to raise the price of the shitty fast food.

[symple19]

Don't think 10 cents here or there would really deter all the fatties, do you?

Oh, and if FF workers REALLY want to make that much, they should move to So Dakota http://money.cnn.com/2011/09/28/pf/north_dakota_jobs/index.htm

[AntiChrist]

If you don't want to make minimum wage, don't have a minimum wage job.

Making 3.35/hr was very motivating for me in the 1980's

[symple19]

WHile that article is old, its still booming up there. Both North/South Dakota are dripping with oil money.

[InRareForm]

Or just train to clean teeth for 32 an hour

[cantthinkofanything]

Don't think 10 cents here or there would really deter all the fatties, do you?



no...no I don't think it would deter any fatties. in fact, it might lead the fast food companies to use even less quality "meats" in their foods.
so maybe it doesn't matter. $10 an hour just seems like a lot to pay someone who can't even speak intelligibly.

[boutons_deux]

"$10 an hour just seems like a lot to pay someone who can't even speak intelligibly."

just like walmart people, these minimum wagers not living at home get their salaries topped up with public assistance (aka taxpayers).

restaurant industry reported on $650B sales last year.

NRA site: http://www.restaurant.org/News-Research/Research/Facts-at-a-Glance

but it's a low-margin business, less than 6% http://www.forbes.com/sites/sageworks/2012/01/11/restaurants-serve-up-higher-sales/

[InRareForm]

Correct me if wrong, but fast food places try to get you in store for high profit margin $1.89 soda

And combo meals... I remember when 3.99 was the standard. Now usually 5 to.7

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

I worked one summer at McDonald's and even now I'm still a little in awe of how much food (I feel like maybe I should have put quotation marks around that) a skeleton crew could push out in the span of an hour. I'd be willing to bet a company like that already has plans and designs in place that could put enough automation out there to cut their human needs even further in the event of a law like this passing. If they don't then the fast food equivalent of the Manhattan Project is probably underway.

[cantthinkofanything]

Correct me if wrong, but fast food places try to get you in store for high profit margin $1.89 soda

And combo meals... I remember when 3.99 was the standard. Now usually 5 to.7

Fucking this. And this goes for any restaurant now. The drinks are a killer. Paying over $2 for a glass of tea. If I had some balls, I'd just keep knocking them over until I was sure I'd wasted $2 worth of tea, water, and waiter time.

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

Fucking this. And this goes for any restaurant now. The drinks are a killer. Paying over $2 for a glass of tea. If I had some balls, I'd just keep knocking them over until I was sure I'd wasted $2 worth of tea, water, and waiter spit.

ftfy

[CosmicCowboy]

So do fast food workers make minimum wage in San Antonio? I know I see on the Bill Miller signs that they start people at $9.

[Th'Pusher]

All of the entry level store jobs at HEB start at $9 or $9.50 with a mid pay around $12

[George Gervin's Afro]

So do fast food workers make minimum wage in San Antonio? I know I see on the Bill Miller signs that they start people at $9.

Love me some Bill Miller sweet tea..

[Drachen]

So do fast food workers make minimum wage in San Antonio? I know I see on the Bill Miller signs that they start people at $9.

Bill miller's has always paid "well". When i was 16 and MW was $4.25, Bill miller's paid 7.50 to start.

[SnakeBoy]

Was watching the news last night and they were interviewing the picketers........18 of the 20 they interviewed were not even fast food workers but rather paid union workers posing as fast food workers.:lol


Yeah I saw an interview with an actual fast food worker and he was basically saying "who the hell are these people" protesting about my job. Fake outrage, fake demonstrations...the puppet show never ends.

[boutons_deux]

the outrage isn't fake. anybody can demonstrate against shitty minimum wage, who said you had to be a minimum wage worker to demonstrate?

I expect a lot minimum wagers are so desperate for their shitty jobs they wouldn't dare be seen demonstrating or skipping work to demonstrate.

[baseline bum]

LOL good luck with that. The whole point of fast food is that it's fast and automated so they can hire unskilled monkeys to do the work.

[boutons_deux]

shitty food, shitty wages, shitty profits, producing grease-bag, diseased people.

[TSA]

the outrage isn't fake. anybody can demonstrate against shitty minimum wage, who said you had to be a minimum wage worker to demonstrate?

I expect a lot minimum wagers are so desperate for their shitty jobs they wouldn't dare be seen demonstrating or skipping work to demonstrate.
Union backed/manufactured protest. You of all people should have seen this.

:lol random people demonstrating on behalf of min wage workers.

[Das Texan]

These people are fucking morons. But do we really expect them to not be?

Sound economic idea. Raise wages by double and then not think there will be some fall back.

[TSA]

shitty food, shitty wages, shitty profits, producing grease-bag, diseased people.

Shitty people fit right in.

[TSA]

This has to be the stupidest protest by the stupidest people ever.

[cantthinkofanything]

This has to be the stupidest protest by the stupidest people ever.

well...it's at least in the top 5

http://sassywire.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/movement-1.jpg

http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_606w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2011/11/26/National-Economy/Images/507425686.jpg

http://samurailife.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/occupy-anniversary-091720012-001.jpg

[Wild Cobra]

I worked one summer at McDonald's and even now I'm still a little in awe of how much food (I feel like maybe I should have put quotation marks around that) a skeleton crew could push out in the span of an hour. I'd be willing to bet a company like that already has plans and designs in place that could put enough automation out there to cut their human needs even further in the event of a law like this passing. If they don't then the fast food equivalent of the Manhattan Project is probably underway.

I an a technician that maintains automation equipment. I can guarantee you that if wages are pushed too high, many workers will be replaced with equipment. There comes a point where it is cheaper for one person to maintain 10 pieces of equipment in a city, making $50k to $80k annual, than paying hundreds of burger flippers. The equipment I work on now replaces thousands of workers. There are about 30 of us techs, and about 150 equipment operators.

[AntiChrist]

These jobs aren't meant to be "living wage" jobs. They are meant for teenagers and retired people.

[Th'Pusher]

These jobs aren't meant to be "living wage" jobs. They are meant for teenagers and retired people.
They may be meant for teenagers and retired people, bit that's not reality.


The fast-food industry used to employ mostly younger people just trying to make some extra money as they went through school. Now, workers are older and depend on the work to feed families. Analysis by the Economic Policies Institute shows that the average age of minimum-wage workers is now 35, and that 88% are 20 and older.

http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-fast-food-protests-20130829,0,5191267.story



These people are at their prime earning age, making minimum wage, which means they are likely relying on the government to make ends meet. We're paying for a living wage one way or another. If we did it through a minimum wage at least that cost would be passed onto the people who frequent fast food restaurants.

[boutons_deux]

These jobs aren't meant to be "living wage" jobs. They are meant for teenagers and retired people.

fucking bullshit.

somebody putting in 40 hours/week should make enough money to have minimum "working poor" life without taxpayer assistance, without fear of rip-off medical bills/bankruptcy.

What you're justifying is corporations pocketing the salaries they don't pay to workers while taxpayers, many or most of whom don't eat the shit from fast junk food corps, make up the difference.

[spursncowboys]

I think you'd have a better shot at unionizing wal-mart.

[Capt Bringdown]

No war but class war.

http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mbhlwf1PFK1rz1nmdo1_500.jpg

[TSA]

fucking bullshit.

somebody putting in 40 hours/week should make enough money to have minimum "working poor" life without taxpayer assistance, without fear of rip-off medical bills/bankruptcy.

What you're justifying is corporations pocketing the salaries they don't pay to workers while taxpayers, many or most of whom don't eat the shit from fast junk food corps, make up the difference.get out of here with your bullshit :lmao

[Th'Pusher]

get out of here with your bullshit :lmao

So you think the people that make up the federal income tax base are frequenting fast food restaurants?

[boobie4three]

The Destructive Farce of $15.00 Minimum Wage & Melancholia

Charles Payne | Aug 31, 2013 http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/krakee/Charles-Payne_zps61e9e292.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/krakee/media/Charles-Payne_zps61e9e292.jpg.html)


Forces with ulterior motives continue to lead the lambs to slaughter.

Leveraging a mentality that things are "owed" rather than "earned" in America, unions and their agents along with those that still think Thomas More's Utopia is an ideal society are pushing for a minimum wage hike to $15.00 an hour - more than double the current rate.

Protesters are framing the issue that corporations are part of a public domain and naturally they should share in their good fortunes.

Moreover, corporate greed results in employees being their victims rather than victims of personal mistakes. There are higher paying jobs out there, why aren't these workers applying for those jobs?

The fact is, most fast food workers have cornered themselves into uncompetitive positions in the job market where better skilled workers make more money.

Still, in this period of redistribution of wealth and redistribution of accountability the minimum wage battleground is perfect as it evokes victimization, racism and the ills of capitalism.

Here are the facts.

> People go into business to make money.
> Businesses pay taxes that more than cover the sidewalks and roads and have no moral obligation to pay salaries above free market levels.
> Large fast food chains are struggling in the United States, with growth coming from outside this country. That growth has been underpinning profits and share prices.
> States with minimum wages significantly above the federal level for the most part have higher unemployment rates than the national average

There are really short memories out there, but only two years ago McDonalds' locations were mobbed with job applicants during a one-day job fair. Some places had as many as twenty applicants for each job, and now these same workers are demanding a hundred percent wage increase. The summer I worked at McDonalds, there were 300 applicants for three jobs, and the interview process took hours. After the first round of interviews, the manager came and whispered to me I got the job, but I had to wait until the other positions were filled.


I considered the job a stepping stone, a place to get some spending money and stay off the streets. I was always grateful and worked hard. But I knew it wasn't a career, although I met people in management programs that were making good money. I moved on as did Jay Leno, Sharon Stone, Carl Lewis and Jeff Bezos. The private sector shouldn't be made to take on the role of government welfare agencies basing wages on workers' needs rather than worker skills. But mostly those kids that have dropped out of school or aren't marketable shouldn't buy into the notion it's not their own fault.

The nation isn't going to compete in the new economy with so much focus on artificial wages and limiting profits and wealth of businesses and individuals. Sure, it might seem an attractive Utopia but it would destroy America's greatness, and before that would harm the so-called poor significantly more.

Sad (last) Days of summerMelancholy
A feeling of pensive sadness, typically with no obvious cause.

Synonyms: sadness, sorrow, unhappiness, woe, desolation, dejection, depression, despondency, gloom and misery.

This morning's commute was the epitome of bittersweet, as is each Friday before Labor Day. The commute was as easy as pie, like driving down the Pacific Coast highway without any other cars on the road. The Doobie Bothers were blaring on my radio, and I put the Jaguar to the test. Yet, throughout the ride, I knew this was the last time this year I would have it this easy. Traffic is back on Tuesday and it's supposed to rain on the east coast. I get this sense of melancholy each year at this time.

This year, it might be more acute because it's matched with the mood of the nation.

The nation is stuck in a rut of pensive sadness that manifests itself with a range of emotions from anger to indifference. It weighs on the economy and weighs on personal decision-making. Our knee-jerk reaction is always defensive, with a narrative of shifting blame and assigning punishment. Yesterday on Varney & Co, we had the founder of Lumber Liquidators (LL) on the show in part because I had been singing his praises as yet another great American success story.

Tom Sullivan started the company as a natural progression of life when he saw an opportunity selling lumber in a way that wasn't being done. He's almost a billionaire, and people that invested in his company (including our subscribers) are making money, too. One of my biggest goals is to get people to see behind the numbers and know these companies aren't just numbers and stock symbols but people, including those that start them and establish a culture.

As it turns out, Tom was a great guest. He was lively, excited and inspirational, but then he did it... he talked about the fundraiser he had very recently for President Obama. Naturally, we were shocked that someone that's attained so much in a system that the president is trying to dismantle would add cash to his coffers. Tom said he liked the president and thinks he means well. In my mind, if dismantling America and piecing it back together as a nation that scorns success is well-meaning, then so be it.

When the interview was over someone tweeted me he will never buy from Lumber Liquidators again.

I get where this person is coming from, but I have to say this is a slippery slope. I had a woman email earlier in the year with the list of companies she and her husband shop at, and it was shorter than the ones they're boycotting because of political ties and leanings of management. I didn't make her day when I told her Costco (COST), on her approved list, probably had to be struck off considering all the money the CEO raised for President Obama and his speech at the DNC.

I wondered how old she and her husband were and thought maybe they should watch "Duck Dynasty" and learn how to hunt just to be on the safe side and make sure not a penny of her money ends up in the pockets of the wrong politicians and organizations. I get it... I bought a copy of the movie "Milk" years ago and never opened the box. My disdain for Sean Penn, the person, has clouded my appreciation for Sean Penn the actor.

This line of thought has stopped so many people from investing in the stock market. Conservatives have missed one of the greatest stock market rallies of their lifetime because they inter-mingled the notion of investing success during this administration as helping the enemy. It's a pity because we all have to be careful that our disdain for a political party or the ideology running America doesn't cloud our appreciation or love for America.

http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/charlespayne/2013/08/31/the-destructive-farce-of-1500-minimum-wage--melancholia-n1688179/page/2

[TSA]

So you think the people that make up the federal income tax base are frequenting fast food restaurants?

Yeth

[boutons_deux]

Payne? Another Uncle Tom, Stepin Fetchit, like Cain, sexual predator Thomas, sucking up to the Repugs, tea baggers. the pay is good!

[Th'Pusher]

Yeth

Nm

[sickdsm]

WHile that article is old, its still booming up there. Both North/South Dakota are dripping with oil money.

South Dakota is dripping with oil money?

How so?

[angrydude]

I don't get it, are these people not living?

[symple19]

South Dakota is dripping with oil money?

How so?


It's mostly N. Dakota, although the NW part of SD is seeing a lot of growth as well. Perhaps "dripping with oil $" was inaccurate for the southern version