LABOR DAY is over and now back to school / work but not
before we address some labor issues.
I have been reading about a “fast-food worker’s strike”
planned for Labor Day in which the workers were asking for $15 / hour for their
work (minimum wage is at $7.25).
It was not surprising that the SERVICE EMPLOYEES
INTERNATIONAL UNION was behind the strike since their only chance at unionizing
fast food workers is only when they can afford to pay union dues and that
cannot happen on minimum wage so let’s demand doubling the current rate…really?
Historically, the fast food industry employed young,
inexperienced workers, usually students who needed extra cash or senior
citizens who were bored at home and/or needed extra cash; by employing either
the young or the elderly, fast food industry could deliver cheap food fast.
When I read about this strike, I wanted to find out why the
strike was called and what has changed in the fast food industry to demand a
change in employment practices.
The push by the union is understandable as all unions are
desperately looking for new people to unionize so they can keep the union alive
but there was something else going on here…
As I studied the matter more, it became apparent that the
people asking for the raise have changed. No longer are fast food workers
teenagers or the elderly but adults who considered their fast food job as their
main job for life and not just a transient job to earn extra cash while going
to school or filling up idle days.
I read a number of an examples where adults were trying to
support themselves and their families on fast food wages and that is just NOT
what fast food jobs were designed to be.
The problem appears to be the adult workers that have no
apparent marketable skills seeking a living wage from jobs not designed to
provide living wages.
So let me see if I have this straight, adult fast food workers
have no compelling reason or drive to obtain marketable skills yet want the
fast food eating public to spend a lot more on their fast food so that workers
unable or unwilling to acquire marketable skills, can enjoy a living wage…really?
Something needs to change and it is not fast food wages…
No comments:
Post a Comment