Fast Food Worker Strikes!

[Clinton Huxley]

Robots can go and buy my shopping from other robots. Robot knows what I need.

[Coito ergo sum]

Robots can go and buy my shopping from other robots. Robot knows what I need.

Easy enough just to shop online and have the items shipped, or pick it up at the store pre bagged. http://www.walmart.com/cp/grocery/976759

[laklak]

I, for one, welcome our new automated Wall-E world of shopping robots and motorized Barcaloungers.

[Collector1337]

I think it's funny when people who work for minimum wage take no responsibility for their life choices which got them into the position to have to work for minimum wage in the first place.

[MrJonno]

It's not just the the fast food employees problem its everyone problem. If as a society we can't find some way of keeping 90% + of the population in work AND earning enough to be able to eat then we are all in trouble

Oh, well, 90% of the population isn't earning so little as to be making minimum wage. The minimum wage bracket is made up of (a) teenagers and part time college students, (b) mentally handicapped who also get government assistance but are hired to bag groceries and such, (c) the few terminally unskilled who can't find a $10 an hour job as adults. Minimum wage earners represent about 5% of all hourly paid workers. That's workers 16 years of age and over.

1/2 of all minimum wage workers are under the age of 25 years. Only 3% of workers age 25 and over make only minimum wage. And, actually, of workers between the ages of 16 and 25, only 23% make minimum wage. 77% of workers between the ages of 16 and 25 are making more than minimum.

.

From the average earnings it looks like around 25% of the population is on the adult minimum wage but some could well be kids (who get a lot less) and some could be part time, but its not unreasonable to think 50% wages are at least influenced by the minimum wage.

UK adult minimum wage is around about £12.5k average earnings are a £25-£30k depending on location and how its calculated. I don't see how minimum wage couldn't influence a lot of people's lives (Also if you have a family up to around £20k you are going to be getting more tax credits than you pay in tax in effect a corporate subsidy for low wages).

I know how you say you started at minimum wage and then worked your way up but that experience isn't simply true but a good part of the population

[DaveD]

I think it's funny when people who work for minimum wage take no responsibility for their life choices which got them into the position to have to work for minimum wage in the first place.

What's even funnier is when smug bastards who have a well paid job suddenly find out it's not nearly as secure as they thought, and start making the same excuses they once derided others for.

[piscator]

I think it's funny when people who work for minimum wage take no responsibility for their life choices which got them into the position to have to work for minimum wage in the first place.

Do you think it's funny when they band together and strike to improve their pay?

[Collector1337]

I think it's funny when people who work for minimum wage take no responsibility for their life choices which got them into the position to have to work for minimum wage in the first place.

What's even funnier is when smug bastards who have a well paid job suddenly find out it's not nearly as secure as they thought, and start making the same excuses they once derided others for.

What excuses?

I've worked for minimum wage... then I turned 16 and got a better job.

My job is also very secure. I'll never not be able to work doing what I do.

[Collector1337]

I think it's funny when people who work for minimum wage take no responsibility for their life choices which got them into the position to have to work for minimum wage in the first place.

Do you think it's funny when they band together and strike to improve their pay?

Nope. That's their prerogative.

What is funny though, is when they realize they work in fast food and will easily be replaced.

[MrJonno]

What is funny though, is when they realize they work in fast food and will easily be replaced.

The mistake they are making is trying to negotiate with their employer, they should be negotiating with their vote and the government

[piscator]

It'll be kiosks regardless. Sooner than later,

Soon, there will be no need to check out.

Products will be coded and walking out of the store with the products will cause the transaction to be completed and people with credit or debit cards on file will simply take a receipt (if they want, or have it just transmitted to them) when they leave the store. This is already technically feasible. It's just a matter of time. The logistics of getting customers registered and failsafes ironed out will be done.

So IOW, Warren's contention - that fast food strikers are merely shooting themselves in the foot and their noble superiors will have to spite them for their audacity and obstreperousness by installing kiosks or closing down their businesses - is mostly wishful thinking?

[piscator]

I think it's funny when people who work for minimum wage take no responsibility for their life choices which got them into the position to have to work for minimum wage in the first place.

Do you think it's funny when they band together and strike to improve their pay?

Nope. That's their prerogative.

What is funny though, is when they realize they work in fast food and will easily be replaced.

By busing in fast food scabs? Ewww...


The industry is already scraping the bottom of the barrel as it is. I don't imagine they'll be overrun by people willing to scab for minimum wage, no bennies, and no overtime. The fast food industry has fucked themselves on that score.

[Coito ergo sum]

It's not just the the fast food employees problem its everyone problem. If as a society we can't find some way of keeping 90% + of the population in work AND earning enough to be able to eat then we are all in trouble

Oh, well, 90% of the population isn't earning so little as to be making minimum wage. The minimum wage bracket is made up of (a) teenagers and part time college students, (b) mentally handicapped who also get government assistance but are hired to bag groceries and such, (c) the few terminally unskilled who can't find a $10 an hour job as adults. Minimum wage earners represent about 5% of all hourly paid workers. That's workers 16 years of age and over.

1/2 of all minimum wage workers are under the age of 25 years. Only 3% of workers age 25 and over make only minimum wage. And, actually, of workers between the ages of 16 and 25, only 23% make minimum wage. 77% of workers between the ages of 16 and 25 are making more than minimum.

.

From the average earnings it looks like around 25% of the population is on the adult minimum wage but some could well be kids (who get a lot less) and some could be part time, but its not unreasonable to think 50% wages are at least influenced by the minimum wage.

No, 5% of hourly wage earners are making minimum wage. 1/2 of those workers making minimum wage are under the age of 25. That is 2011 numbers according the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Obama was president then, so you can trust those numbers. And, since 2 more years of Obama have passed and things have only gotten better, we can assume, I think, that even fewer people are stuck in minimum wage jobs now. After all, Obama has been doing nothing but helping the "least fortunate among us" for the last five 1/2 years.

UK adult minimum wage is around about £12.5k average earnings are a £25-£30k depending on location and how its calculated. I don't see how minimum wage couldn't influence a lot of people's lives (Also if you have a family up to around £20k you are going to be getting more tax credits than you pay in tax in effect a corporate subsidy for low wages).

Here in the horrid US, minimum wage is about $7.25, which is like what? 4 pounds? Yet our average earnings is about $44,000 --- which is about 30,000 pounds. Huh -- go figure....

I know how you say you started at minimum wage and then worked your way up but that experience isn't simply true but a good part of the population

It's true for most of the US wage earning population. Only 5% of the US wage earning population earns minimum wage. 95% earn more than the minimum wage.

There ought to be, at a minimum, some thought put into what jobs ought to have higher minimum wages than others. I mean, I would like my daughter to be able to get work experience when she is 16 years old. It would be nice to have local employers willing to shell out some dough to bring on local teenagers to do some work that isn't worth them paying much to have done. Just being involved in the work environment, learning how to show up on time, work responsibly, deal with a boss and coworkers, all that stuff is invaluable. It's far more important than whether a 16 or 17 year old is earning enough to support a family. Nobody will ever hire a teenager to stock shelves or clean the stock room or do other menial tasks if the wage is too much. It's just not worth it.

[piscator]

What is funny though, is when they realize they work in fast food and will easily be replaced.

The mistake they are making is trying to negotiate with their employer, they should be negotiating with their vote and the government

That's a dead end road. McDonald's Corp. and Pepsico holds all the cards when it comes to lobbying lawmakers.

[Collector1337]

I think it's funny when people who work for minimum wage take no responsibility for their life choices which got them into the position to have to work for minimum wage in the first place.

Do you think it's funny when they band together and strike to improve their pay?

Nope. That's their prerogative.

What is funny though, is when they realize they work in fast food and will easily be replaced.

By busing in fast food scabs? Ewww...


The industry is already scraping the bottom of the barrel as it is. I don't imagine they'll be overrun by people willing to scab for minimum wage, no bennies, and no overtime. The fast food industry has fucked themselves on that score.

I don't think any "scabs" will need to be bused in.

The world is overpopulated. They will be replaced. Easily.