Fast-food workers have been protesting for a minimum wage of $15 dollars an hour and the freedom to unionize. The workers have organized numerous protests this year. During the protests they have walked out and chanted slogans regarding their pay. The main fast-food companies that are effected is McDonald's and Burger King. They both have stated that they will not press charges and indeed are allowing the workers to return. These workers that are participating in the strike doesn’t represent the majority of the fast-food employees. The people participating in the strike are not only youths but adults and elders as well. Due to the countries low employment rate many of these workers are supporting a family or other dependents. This is where most of the fast-food workers are getting their motivation to protest this industry. Unfortunately, many Americans are questioning the negative economic effects of their proposed wage and their lack of worthiness to receive that big of a pay raise. However, I believe that with some adjustment and research we can find a way to make everyone happy. My solution advises that we support Obama’s nine dollars an hour minimum wage proposal. It will give the fast-food workers financial support, release the burden of the taxpayer’s assistance, and keep inflation balanced.
Educated Americans and researchers biggest concern is that their minimum wage proposal is going to negatively affect our economy. For example, they predict that their wage is part of the labor cycle and if it increases it will raise prices for customers. In Brian Jencunas article, he expresses that, “Virtually anyone can do these jobs with very little training. This means the supply of potential labor exceeds the demand, making sala...
... middle of paper ...
...ish Fast-Food Strikes | National Review Online." National Review Online. National Review Online, 5 Aug. 2013. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
Murray, Matt. "SIEU President Mary Kay Henry Goes On The Colbert Report." NH Labor News. NH Labor News, 13 Aug. 2013. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.
Preston, Bryan. "PJ Media." The PJ Tatler RSS. PJ Media, 29 Aug. 2013. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
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.
Traub, Amy, and Catherine Ruetschlin. "Ten Reasons Why Fast Food Workers Deserve A Raise | Common Dreams." Common Dreams. Common Dreams, 29 Aug. 2013. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
Wong, Venessa. "This Is What Would Happen If Fast-Food Workers Got Raises." BloomBerg Business Week. Bloomberg L.P, 2 Aug. 2013. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.
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 editorial discusses minimum wage disparities in the restaurant industry. It starts by discussing what a “minimum wage worker’s” day might look like, giving an example of a dishwasher, who has scars on his arms. The author uses this imagery
Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. Print.
Ton, Z. (2014). A minimum wage hike could help employers, too. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved February 2, 2014 from http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/01/a-minimum-wage-hike-would-help-employers-too/
Hsu, Tiffany, ed. "Nearly 90% of fast-food workers allege wage theft, survey finds." Los Angeles
Minimum wage is a topic that has been popping up since the 1980s. From whether we should lower it, or even raise it, but now in the 2000s minimum wage has been the center of attention more than ever. There are two sides to this topic of minimum wage; whether it creates more jobs or does not create jobs. Those who argue that raising minimum wage will create more jobs will have a rebuttal which is that it does not only cause the loss of jobs but that it would make things much worse and vice versa for those arguing raising minimum wage will cause loss of jobs. There will be two authors representing opposite views, Nicholas Johnson supporting minimum wage will not cost jobs with his article “ Evidence Shows Raising Minimum Wage Hasn’t Cost Jobs”
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
Lehmann, Deborah. "Why School Cafeterias Are Dishing Out Fast Food (page 2)." Education.com. Education, 21 Oct. 2013. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.
Many people against raising the minimum wage create arguments such as, “it will cause inflation”, or, “ it will result in job loss.” Not only are these arguments terribly untrue, they also cause a sense of panic towards the majority working-class. Since 1938, the federal minimum wage has been increased 22 times. For more than 75 years, real GDP per capita has consistently increased, even when the wage has been
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.
National Restaurant Association. 2013 Restaurant Industry Pocket Factbook. Rep. National Restaurant Association, 2013. Web. 30 Oct. 2014. .
“Out of every $1.50 spent on a large order of fries at fast food restaurant, perhaps 2 cents goes to the farmer that grew the potatoes,” (Schlosser 117). Investigative journalist Eric Schlosser brings to light these realities in his bestselling book, Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. Schlosser, a Princeton and Oxford graduate, is known for his inspective pieces for Atlantic Monthly. While working on article, for Rolling Stone Magazine, about immigrant workers in a strawberry field he acquired his inspiration for the aforementioned book, Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, a work examining the country’s fast food industry (Gale).
Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. Print.
Presently, workers in the fast food and minimum wage jobs seek respect and an increase in wages as it is a sector of the food industry that is underrepresented by unions. As cost of living increases in cities nationwide and the government subsidizes underpaid employees with welfare funds, organizations such as Real Food Real Workers and the Fight for $15 are demanding a raise in the minimum wage, particularly for food workers. Similarly to the food workers at UNC Chapel Hill, many minimum wage workers in the fast food industry are women and minorities, sectors of the labor pool already marginalized by wage disparity. The Fight for 15 movement has recently gained momentum in raising the minimum wage to $15 in California, New York, Seattle and the District of Columbia, and this year Arizona, Colorado, Maine, and Washington state voted to increase the minimum wage as well. In the 21 states where the minimum wage is still as low as $7.25, s minimum wage increase movement should partner with other organizations from outside labor unions such as women 's rights organizations and organizations similar to the BSM, including mass participation of solidarity with college campuses, to make a substantial statement about their work
Wages and benefits are the key motivation that people go to their jobs every day; besides their hourly wage or annual salary, majority of employees have access to employer-sponsored health care coverage, paid vacation, and other benefits (Findlaw.com, n.d.). So, when it comes to negotiations, wage disputes are by far the most prominent causes of strikes when labor unions and employers reach a stalemate during these talks (Sloane & Witney, 2010). Over the past decade, wage-related issues have accounted for approximately 40 percent of all such work stoppages (Gorman, 2004). Since employee wages are normally their only source of income, we can see why they play such a significant and contentious part in labor unions and management relationships (Gorman, 2004). That is why basic wage rate, overtime, differentials, and adjustments are the most significant issue...