Employment Benefits in the Fast Food Industry
The fast food industry has been expanding rapidly over the past years. It has become a part of our culture. In the book Labour Relations in the Global Fast-Food Industry, Robin Leidner quotes from Eric Schlosser who wrote the popular Fast Food Nation , “According to one estimate, there are approximately 2.5 million fast-food workers in the United States, making them the country’s largest group of low-paid workers (Leidner 11). Those 2.5 million fast-food workers are now working at Subway, McDonald’s, Burger King, Taco Bell, Wendy’s, Pizza Hut, KFC, etc. The American fast food industry was built on the promise of low prices and fast services. Therefore, the corporations have to keep the labor and other operating costs down. Employees who work in fast food restaurants receive low wages and minimal benefits. In the past, many fast food workers tried to unionize themselves for guaranteed wages and benefits; yet, they have failed as many times as they have tried. I argue that fast food employees should get basic benefits such as health insurance, personal days and sick days, and perhaps a 401K plan because these hard workers are worth the benefits they should receive based on their commitments and contributions to the company. I feel it is unfair for them to receive low wages and no to minimum benefits while the company earns great profits.
Some argue that the burger flippers and cashiers at fast food chains do not deserve high wages and full benefits because most of them are unskilled and uneducated. Some of these workers are grateful to the franchises for giving them opportunities for jobs based on their lack of skills and education. Most of these employees are teenage...
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..., they should be qualified for greater benefits. From the commitments that employees put into their jobs, the company should appreciate their efforts by offering something more in return to the hard workers. Although the business goal is to make more profits, and fast food restaurants such as McDonald’s achieve this goal by reducing employment wages and benefits, the fast food corporations should recognize the effects of negative publicity. McDonald’s seem to have more negative publicity compared to Starbucks because Starbucks offers more benefits to their employees but less dangerous and easier jobs. Although they are both growing rapidly, Starbucks may be extending longer than McDonald’s based on their quality products and employee’s loyalty. The fast food industry should work harder to compete and maintain good workers as the labor market is getting tighter.
People slave for a number of hours of work and find themselves with minimum wage salaries and working with people they don’t want to be around with. In her article Serving in Florida, Barbara Ehrenreich goes undercover as a low-wage worker for various jobs to expose the working conditions of working class Americans. Throughout her essay, she discusses how the employees are fearful of losing their jobs even though they are forced to work in inhumane conditions such as long hours, with no breaks between shifts. While undercover, Ehrenreich attempts to make an argument on how the upper and middle class can find it difficult to survive under minimum wage jobs and allow readers to figure out what can be done to change the restaurant business.
The skills learned while working at a fast food restaurant are not always from what you are directly taught on the job. In the article “The Fast-Food Factories: McJobs are Bad for Kids,” the author, Amitai Etzioni, explains how fast food jobs hinder learning and the participation of students in school. Etzioni claims that while a fast food job provides income, it does not provide knowledge or skills that would be learn from other jobs such as carpenting, as well as stating that jobs like these dampen creativity. While I agree with some of the author's statements, such as students having a hard time balancing work and school, the author also makes claims that are not correct.
Etzioni states that when people work at fast food businesses, it sets an nonacademic standard of working conditions. Workers are being taught specific roles in the workplace that are mapped out for them the way it is required to be, which leaves “[...] no room for initiative, creativity, or even elementary rearrangements” (Etzioni). Etzioni shares his idea that fast food industries are training “robots”. These “robots’ follow commands mindlessly, whether it be cutting into homework or family time, dropping out of school, or doing whatever it takes just to keep a job that is supposed to be the initial training ground in work experience.
The rhetor of the article, For many restaurant workers, fair conditions not on menu, uses several rhetorical elements to construct her argument and build upon her ethos. She uses logos to expand her credibility and ethos, as well as to make her pathos statements more rational. She appeals to the reader’s sense of American patriotism and freedom to try to sway the opinions of the reader. The article’s main argument is that workers in the restaurant industry are being unfairly treated with their minimum wage.
Section 1: Typically, we need a well-balanced meal to give us the energy to do day-to-day tasks and sometimes we aren’t able to get home cooked meals that are healthy and nutritious on a daily basis, due to the reasons of perhaps low income or your mom not being able to have the time to cook. People rely on fast food, because it’s quicker and always very convenient for full-time workers or anyone in general who just want a quick meal. Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation argues that Americans should change their nutritional behaviors. In his book, Schlosser inspects the social and economic penalties of the processes of one specific section of the American food system: the fast food industry. Schlosser details the stages of the fast food production process, like the farms, the slaughterhouse and processing plant, and the fast food franchise itself. Schlosser uses his skill as a journalist to bring together appropriate historical developments and trends, illustrative statistics, and telling stories about the lives of industry participants. Schlosser is troubled by our nation’s fast-food habit and the reasons Schlosser sees fast food as a national plague have more to do with the pure presence of the stuff — the way it has penetrated almost every feature of our culture, altering “not only the American food, but also our landscape, economy, staff, and popular culture. This book is about fast food, the values it represents, and the world it has made," writes Eric Schlosser in the introduction of his book. His argument against fast food is based on the evidence that "the real price never appears on the menu." The "real price," according to Schlosser, varieties from destroying small business, scattering pathogenic germs, abusing wor...
Hsu, Tiffany, ed. "Nearly 90% of fast-food workers allege wage theft, survey finds." Los Angeles
Over the last 50 years, the fast food industry did not only sold hamburgers and french fries. It has been a key factor for vast social changes throughout America. It has been responsible for breaking traditional American values and reinstating new social standards that specifically aims to benefit the industry’s growth. These social standards have inevitably changed the way the American youth respond to education and self-responsibility. Eric Schlosser, an author of Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, excellently uses logic to present the tactics used by the fast food industry to cheapen and promote labor along with the social changes that occurred in the American youth as a result. Schlosser aims to dismantle and dissect
Almost everyone has eaten fast food at some point in their lives, but not everyone realizes the negative effects some fast food can have on our nutrition. My family especially is guilty of eating unhealthy fast food meals at least once a week because of our budget and very busy schedules. In Andrea Freeman’s article entitled, “Fast Food: Oppression through Poor Nutrition,” She argues that fast food has established itself as a main source of nutrition for families that live in average neighborhoods and have low-incomes. Freeman begins the article by explaining how the number of fast food outlets is beginning to grow in poor communities because of the cheap prices and quick service these restaurants are famous for. The overabundance of fast
Many people do not realize that the jobs in the fast food industry are very dangerous. These are the jobs that no one realizes what it’s like behind the scenes. The workers face high rates of injury in the factories and in fast food restaurants, so we feel like we shouldn’t support the fast food industries. In chapters three and eight of “Fast Food Nation,” Eric Schlosser uses pathos to highlight the fact that fast food jobs are difficult as well as dangerous. The jobs involved with fast food are so dangerous that more regulations should be reinforced more firmly, as well as more laws should be put into place.
Sheasley, Chelsea B. "'Super-size' Strike: Why Fast-food Workers Walked out for Higher Wages." The Christian Science Monitor. The Christian Science Monitor, 29 Aug. 2013. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.
One of the largest reasons why people choose to eat fast food is because it is inexpensive. The United States government has increased the market for fast food by subsidizing many of the industry’s costs and by deregulating the industry, making it harder to inhibit collusion and monopolistic behavior. The construction of the interstate highway system and the agricultural subsidies are more than enough to give fast food corporations a competitive advantage over small businesses in the marketplace. However, giving tax breaks that enable high turnover rates for employees, and making Americans pay taxes for franchise fees, buildings, real estate, equipment, and supplies for fast food corporations turns a capitalist economy into a corporatist one (Schlosser 102). Ever since Nixon’s proposal for deregulating the marketplace, corporations have been committing unfair labor practices, not paying employees for working overtime as well...
From a study completed by Chicago-based Research International USA completed a study called “Fast Food Nation 2008. The panel consisted of 1,000 respondents of ages 16-65 who provided their inputs with an online survey which was conducted between March 13 through 2008. Which was based on results on fast food restaurants like McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s are gaining popularity even through the economic hardship and recession. Marketing strategy has become more of influence on kids and young American’s. As population grows and the demand increases of fast food restaurants are expanding their stores to capturing more consumers. Fast food chains are also willing to change their menus to continue to gain and retain repeating customers. With each generation that passes, brings fast food chains into more homes and continues impacting lives.
It has been estimated that one out of eight workers at some point of their career worked at McDonald's. Today there are approximately 3.5 million fast food workers and they constitute the largest group of the minimum wage earners in the country. According to Schlosser, "the only Americans who consistently earn a lower hourly wage are migrant farm workers ." "Fast Food Nation" is the story of the postwar America. Fast food industry has pushed the homogenization of our society. The author is very convincing in making his arguments and supports them with a wide variety of examples. It is impossible to disagree with what he is saying because the evidence in support to his statements is around us.
McDonalds provide high quality products, such as burgers, fries, drinks, muffins, etc, which are safe and reliable that it does what it is supposed to do, but not only does the quality of the products matter, the good value for money affects the business. E.g. buy one extra value meal and get one free with a food voucher that represents the offer only. They ensure that a high standard of the product is carried out at all times and they try to compete very competitively with other fast food businesses with their good value for money. Also a customer would know if the product is good value for money by checking in another food outlet like KFC for their services and products.
In America, many are not aware of the inequalities that exist in the Food Service. The food service sector has at least 125,951 companies and approximately 12 million employees with almost 7 million foreigners. This sector includes individually owned restaurants, mid-priced chains, quick service (fast food), hotels, and beverage establishments. Food service plays a major role in institutional establishments like schools, hospitals, prisons and meals on wheels. They cater to the tastes of their particular customers and are often leaders of food innovation. In the food service, we find: bartenders, wait staff, hosts, busboys, chefs, cooks, managers, and dishwashers .The food service workers perform a variety of customer service, food preparation and cleaning tasks, all that which are very important to keep a business running. More concerning , some of the major working conditions that foodservice workers face with daily is no health benefits and significantly low wages. These employees working in the food industry make it possible for millions of people to enjoy food in restaurants but are not being treated or appreciated fairly.