Fast Food Worker Strikes!

[piscator]

So you're saying McDonald's should take over Somalia if the minimum wage goes up?

Show us the numbers on that. I'm thinking kiosks might be cheaper.

Complete non sequitur.

Not at all. You brought up Somali refugees coming en masse (probably as the result of some sub rosa payment to some sort of Somali gangster) to break a strike at an anectdotal chicken plant and cheerfully scab for minimum wage. It follows that if US chicken processors paid lawmakers enough, the US could invade Somalia and create all the refugees they need to ensure comfortable profit margins in US chicken processing without having to suffer the inconvenience of raising prices.

Frankly, were I a member of that local community, I'd be all about a way to squeeze the shit out the pricks who just fired half my local tax base and imported a bunch of fucking Somalis into my town to crap in local urinals and run down local property values, for their own fucking benefit...but that's another subject.

What happens is, when you raise the minimum wage, the unskilled, new entry-level teenage workers can't get jobs because more experienced, older, more reliable and more manageable unemployed adults take the jobs from them....

That's fucking ridiculous. Were that true, McDonald's would pay enough to attract experienced older reliable manageable adults in the first place.

Wrong. They hire the older adults at the same wage they pay the newbies, and the adults are glad to have a job in a tight job market and a lousy economy.

The Great Depression is over. The economy hasn't been that bad since.

The choice for the employer is a) hire a pimply-faced teenager with no work experience and no track record of reliability and spend a great deal of time training and supervising them to make them productive; or b) hire an unemployed adult with a work history who understands how retail works and is more interested in getting a paycheck and keeping the customers and boss happy so they can put food on the table than they are in texting their high-school buddies, gossiping, taking baths in the dish sink when the boss isn't around and hocking lugis in customer's food because they hate their job, hate the customers, and get pissed off when a customer actually makes them work.

"I need a doublebaconjumbo cheeseburger and a ..."litercoke". It's for Seth."

Let me tell ya about the majority of adults who consider it worth their time to slide around on a greasy fast food floor for minimum wage...they're more likely to spit in your burger than some naive kid working his first job.
Reliable squared-away adults with anything on the ball rarely have to work for part-time McWages for very long. There are a lot more opportunities for them out there, and they know it. Any grownup who spends enough time washing lettuce at McDonald's to rate as "Reliable" is usually some sort of fuckedup loser with serious "problems" who has to be told to wash his filthy McSmock because it's disgusting his coworkers. Ewww.

What employer is going to put up with that if he doesn't have to? An incredibly stupid one perhaps, but he'll be out of business soon enough if he doesn't think about his bottom line and his customer's satisfaction ahead of his employees whining about low pay.

Tell me about it. That's why McDonald's would rather hire kids from decent homes working to rice out their cars - they actually have goals in life... and bathe on some sort of regular basis.

The whole reason you get pimply-faced burger-flippers who dis the customers and spit in the food when the economy is good is because nobody else wants to do the job and they can all find higher-paying and more satisfactory jobs elsewhere. Fast food is, and has always been an entry-level unskilled position suitable for high school kids looking for some extra pocket money. It's not and never has been a good career choice for an adult.

Nor should it be. We need some industries where new workers can stretch and exercise their working wings and learn how business actually functions and where they can be taught a good work ethic, otherwise the incompetence just works its way up the employment chain, to the detriment of the economy and the customer. And we need an industry that can be a screener for the rest of the business world that will weed out the perpetual slackers and idlers early on so the economy doesn't waste unnecessary resources trying to train the untrainable.

Bullshit. Those kids are there to make their employers money. Period.

If you don't like the fast-food wages, then for fuck's sake go find another job and leave the burger-flipping to somebody who appreciates having a job at all.

Or organize and strike so all the people coming in behind you have it better.

A rising tide raises all boats. Deal with it.

The economic tide does not rise when the government imposes minimum wage laws, it just tilts the bowl. Every dime of increased minimum wage comes out of the pocket of somebody else and is transferred to the worker, and all the other negative consequences are just magnified.

Another frozen concept. When there's more $$ in the system, everyone makes more $$ and more opportunities are created. It "trickles up" over time. Wealth is created.
I don't see you complaining when oil companies give themselves a raise, but it's 'detrimental to the economy as a whole' when fast food workers try to do it? Naa.

[JimC]

Most people I know around here own their own businesses, only a couple actually work for someone else. Lawyers, doctors, general contractors, lawn services, restaurateurs, accountants, its a long list. The few that work for others are usually young, and their goal is to own their own operation. Must be that idiotic American Dream stuff.

My son Nick may have caught the bug. He's been doing some private tutoring, but has now hatched a plan (with the support of his old school) of running seminars about study techniques and success in exams for final year high school students. The idea is that students who succeeded well, and are now in first year uni, can speak more directly to their slightly younger peers than teachers.

He will do the 2 or 3 subjects he did particularly well in, and is assembling a team of other students to speak to the subjects they excelled in...

Good luck to him, I say!

[Seth]

So you're saying McDonald's should take over Somalia if the minimum wage goes up?

Show us the numbers on that. I'm thinking kiosks might be cheaper.

Complete non sequitur.

Not at all. You brought up Somali refugees coming en masse (probably as the result of some sub rosa payment to some sort of Somali gangster) to break a strike at an anectdotal chicken plant and cheerfully scab for minimum wage.

RTFP. There was no strike, there was no labor union, the workers were hauled off by ICE because they were illegals. It just so happened that the plant was in a community where large numbers of legal Somali refugees live and they were more than happy to quit working at McDonalds and 7-11 and cut meat for good wages.

It follows that if US chicken processors paid lawmakers enough, the US could invade Somalia and create all the refugees they need to ensure comfortable profit margins in US chicken processing without having to suffer the inconvenience of raising prices.

No need, there's plenty of other Africans who are intent on victimizing Somalis to create a pool of destitute, starving refugees millions of individuals in size.

Frankly, were I a member of that local community, I'd be all about a way to squeeze the shit out the pricks who just fired half my local tax base and imported a bunch of fucking Somalis into my town to crap in local urinals and run down local property values, for their own fucking benefit...but that's another subject.

Once again, Read The Fucking Post. Nobody fired anybody. Hundreds of ICE agents in busses rolled in, locked it down, handcuffed everyone, including the plant managers, and deported the illegals.

Another frozen concept. When there's more $$ in the system, everyone makes more $$ and more opportunities are created. It "trickles up" over time. Wealth is created.

Jesus, man, take an economics course willya? $$ =/= wealth. The gummint prints $$ like it was going out of style but that doesn't create one single cent of wealth. In fact it devalues all the wealth already in circulation. It's called "inflation." Go read up on Weimar Germany for the love of God and then come back and tell me with a straight face that shoving more "$$" into the system does anything but harm the economy by devaluing everything that people worked hard to acquire.

Sheesh!

I don't see you complaining when oil companies give themselves a raise, but it's 'detrimental to the economy as a whole' when fast food workers try to do it? Naa.

The oil companies get to give themselves raises because they own the wealth. But if they give themselves too much of a raise, the supply goes down, the price goes up and consumers stop buying, and their profits evaporate. Especially in the oil industry which has to invest billions in speculative exploration and pre-sale production and delivery infrastructure that they may not get back for a long, long time if supply exceeds demand by too much. The oil industry's ROI is in the single digits because of the massive investment they have to make merely to find and extract the resource.

Go read an economics book.

[Seth]

Most people I know around here own their own businesses, only a couple actually work for someone else. Lawyers, doctors, general contractors, lawn services, restaurateurs, accountants, its a long list. The few that work for others are usually young, and their goal is to own their own operation. Must be that idiotic American Dream stuff.

My son Nick may have caught the bug. He's been doing some private tutoring, but has now hatched a plan (with the support of his old school) of running seminars about study techniques and success in exams for final year high school students. The idea is that students who succeeded well, and are now in first year uni, can speak more directly to their slightly younger peers than teachers.

He will do the 2 or 3 subjects he did particularly well in, and is assembling a team of other students to speak to the subjects they excelled in...

Good luck to him, I say!

Excellent idea. Outstanding self-motivation. Respectable altruism. Good for him, I hope he succeeds too...although I would expect some government bureaucrat to come along and take it away from him if he is successful...that's what government bureaucrats do, don't you see...so that THEY can take credit for it and keep their cushy government jobs.

[piscator]

So you're saying McDonald's should take over Somalia if the minimum wage goes up?

Show us the numbers on that. I'm thinking kiosks might be cheaper.

Complete non sequitur.

Not at all. You brought up Somali refugees coming en masse (probably as the result of some sub rosa payment to some sort of Somali gangster) to break a strike at an anectdotal chicken plant and cheerfully scab for minimum wage.

RTFP. There was no strike, there was no labor union, the workers were hauled off by ICE because they were illegals. It just so happened that the plant was in a community where large numbers of legal Somali refugees live and they were more than happy to quit working at McDonalds and 7-11 and cut meat for good wages.

You're right. You dropped the context in your reply, and I misremembered because I wasn't conscientious enough to wade back in the verbose original. My bad. The noble bastion of American free enterprise and gainful employment was making out hiring illegals because very few Americans were broke enough to decapitate and pluck their cluckers, and some dirty rat bastard ate cheese on 'em. So INS showed up and carted off their labor pool. I smell the heavy hand of Socialism, which is to say "Marxism!". Did they ever catch the stinking Bolshevik who blew the whistle and fucked up a perfectly good thing?

It follows that if US chicken processors paid lawmakers enough, the US could invade Somalia and create all the refugees they need to ensure comfortable profit margins in US chicken processing without having to suffer the inconvenience of raising prices.

No need, there's plenty of other Africans who are intent on victimizing Somalis to create a pool of destitute, starving refugees millions of individuals in size.

That's the sort of thing that happens to "Night Watchman governments". Sad.

Frankly, were I a member of that local community, I'd be all about a way to squeeze the shit out the pricks who just fired half my local tax base and imported a bunch of fucking Somalis into my town to crap in local urinals and run down local property values, for their own fucking benefit...but that's another subject.

Once again, Read The Fucking Post. Nobody fired anybody. Hundreds of ICE agents in busses rolled in, locked it down, handcuffed everyone, including the plant managers, and deported the illegals.

Fucken government meddling!! One of these days, American citizens are gonna wake up and put a stop to this sort of antiAmerican anti Free Enterprise nonsense. Wake up sheeple!!! Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!!

Another frozen concept. When there's more $$ in the system, everyone makes more $$ and more opportunities are created. It "trickles up" over time. Wealth is created.

Jesus, man, take an economics course willya? $$ =/= wealth. The gummint prints $$ like it was going out of style but that doesn't create one single cent of wealth. In fact it devalues all the wealth already in circulation. It's called "inflation." Go read up on Weimar Germany for the love of God and then come back and tell me with a straight face that shoving more "$$" into the system does anything but harm the economy by devaluing everything that people worked hard to acquire.

Sheesh!

So now the danger of paying fast food workers a decent wage is exposed: It's just a short slippery slope to Weimar hyperinflation!!

Should I quit buying material stuff because I made the $$ on government surveying contracts?

I don't see you complaining when oil companies give themselves a raise, but it's 'detrimental to the economy as a whole' when fast food workers try to do it? Naa.

The oil companies get to give themselves raises because they own the wealth. But if they give themselves too much of a raise, the supply goes down, the price goes up and consumers stop buying, and their profits evaporate. Especially in the oil industry which has to invest billions in speculative exploration and pre-sale production and delivery infrastructure that they may not get back for a long, long time if supply exceeds demand by too much. The oil industry's ROI is in the single digits because of the massive investment they have to make merely to find and extract the resource.

Yeah, those relief wells are expensive. That, and the Golden Parachutes and $400m annual salaries and bonus packages they pay themselves.
Crude's sitting somewhere around $120bbl, BTW. Back in the mid 90s, an accountant at Kuparuk, Ak told me they break into the black at around $15/bbl.

Go read an economics book.

Don't be so demanding. You're not paying me for my time.

[Cormac]

I have a problem with industries where too many of their employees collect benefits. I don't like the idea of tax dollars directly subsidizing an employers compensation package. I know the Left likes to ignore it, but rich evil "republican" companies long ago changed to backing the democrats because low wages + welfare is cheaper for them in the long run.

This is a fact.

Walmart and similar companies couldn't operate the way they do, by paying staff less than a living wage, unless their staff could top up their earnings from the state. Therefore, taxpayers are directly subsidising shareholder profits.

[Coito ergo sum]

I have a problem with industries where too many of their employees collect benefits. I don't like the idea of tax dollars directly subsidizing an employers compensation package. I know the Left likes to ignore it, but rich evil "republican" companies long ago changed to backing the democrats because low wages + welfare is cheaper for them in the long run.

This is a fact.

Walmart and similar companies couldn't operate the way they do, by paying staff less than a living wage, unless their staff could top up their earnings from the state. Therefore, taxpayers are directly subsidising shareholder profits.

That is one way to look at it. However, another way is that in the past, one could only be eligible for State benefits if one was completely destitute and if one obtained a job making some money then that person would be cut off from benefits. That meant that people would have an incentive to not be gainfully employed in order to not risk losing their benefits. The ability to take some sort of job, even though it is not sufficient, but also receive some benefits until such time as one advances in earnings takes away the incentive to avoid all work altogether.

Not all jobs are worth a "living wage" (whatever that is). I would rather have someone pushing a broom and earning some money as they collect some State benefits than just sit home waiting for a $50k job offer to roll in.

Let's not forget that Wal-Mart's minimum wage jobs include people who sweep up, people who put clothes on the shelves, and people who stand at the front saying "Welcome to Wal-Mart, let us know if we can help you find something." Walmart cashiers start at about minimum wage and go up to about $11 an hour. But, the job is not worth much more than that, if at all. Competitors don't pay more than that. It involves taking items and running it under a laser scanner and pushing a few buttons. Sometimes when people pay cash, the cashier has to count out the change after the machine does the calculation. The coins come out automatically from the coin discharge machine, so all the confusion when customers give them $20.03 when the bill is $19.03 is avoided through the magic of automation.

[laklak]

Before the days of automated registers I gave a cashier $5.25 for a bill of $3.17 (something like that). They were utterly, completely, absolutely flummoxed. They had no idea what to do.

[Coito ergo sum]

Before the days of automated registers I gave a cashier $5.25 for a bill of $3.17 (something like that). They were utterly, completely, absolutely flummoxed. They had no idea what to do.

Require that cashier job to be paid at $15 an hour, and that person who can't count change would be replaced by someone better. Problem solved.

[laklak]

I just use the debit card now. Faster and one fuck of a lot cleaner.

[Coito ergo sum]

I just use the debit card now. Faster and one fuck of a lot cleaner.

Me too. I now become almost enraged when people break out their checkbooks at the supermarket.

I'm like -- really? REALLY? A fucking CHECKBOOK? To buy groceries??? FFS, you have a checking account, but no debit card? In 2013?

It's still the lady who stands there watching each item get scanned, refusing to help bag any of her groceries. Then she waits for the total to be tallied before even bothering to reach into her giant handbag to find the even smaller purse, which contains an even smaller little zipper wallet, which contains a checkbook, which she then proceeds to slooooowly write out.....

[laklak]

I think that's grounds for justifiable use of lethal force down here. Or it should be.

[Coito ergo sum]

I think that's grounds for justifiable use of lethal force down here. Or it should be.

That and when the fuckwit in front of you in line loads up the conveyor belt with groceries but can't be arsed to put the little divider thingy up there so that you can start stacking your groceries behind his.

[laklak]

I think that's grounds for justifiable use of lethal force down here. Or it should be.

That and when the fuckwit in front of you in line loads up the conveyor belt with groceries but can't be arsed to put the little divider thingy up there so that you can start stacking your groceries behind his.

Or you're still loading your groceries on the belt and they put the divider on and start loading theirs, even though you've still got half a cart full.

[Coito ergo sum]

That's another one, yes.

And, don't get me started on the jackass who remembers something they needed while their groceries get scanned, and then make the line wait as they run off (or worse yet, send the supermarket employee out) to get some missing item.