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U.S. Fast Food Workers Strike Nationwide for $15/Hr

posted by CoolHand on Wednesday November 11 2015, @02:50AM   Printer-friendly
from the rise-of-the-proletariat dept.

Hundreds of fast food workers are striking nationwide Tuesday, joining other workers in pressing for a more livable wage. But while some say $15 is a minimum needed to survive, some business owners say dishing out more pay would leave them struggling to keep their doors open.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/fast-food-workers-strike-again-nationwide-for-15-an-hour

In New York City, rallies are being held in Harlem, the Financial District and Brooklyn in support of efforts to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, reports CBS New York.

In Los Angeles, the local protests are organized by Service Employees International Union, and include fast-food, home-care and child-care workers, along with other "underpaid" employees, reports CBS Los Angeles.

"Is this the America we believe in? When someone works all day long and they still can't get by," New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said during an early-morning rally in Downtown Brooklyn. "Does anyone believe that it's easy to get by in New York City on less than $15 an hour?"

Critics say a $15 minimum wage would obliterate opportunity and usher in higher taxes, but de Blasio said the opposite is true -- with more money to spend, low wage workers contribute more to the economy.

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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Tork on Wednesday November 11 2015, @04:49AM

    by Tork (3914) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday November 11 2015, @04:49AM (#261603)

    WTF makes you think some kid bagging up hamburgers and fries should get that much?

    Because people demand burgers in convenient locations nowhere near where that kid can afford to live and having him live on foodstamps means we're paying for it anyway. Oh, and greater local spending power means more customers for these burger joints.

    Companies are looking at decreasing labor costs by reducing the labor force no matter what happens.

    FTFY.

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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by soylentsandor on Wednesday November 11 2015, @08:09PM

    by soylentsandor (309) on Wednesday November 11 2015, @08:09PM (#261897)

    Oh, and greater local spending power means more customers for these burger joints.

    Exactly. This is what Henry Ford understood a century ago [wikipedia.org].

    It worked back then, there's no reason it couldn't work today.

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Tork on Wednesday November 11 2015, @08:23PM

      by Tork (3914) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday November 11 2015, @08:23PM (#261904)
      They think the price of hamburgers will suddenly rise, never mind that the price of Ford's cars didn't suddenly rise out of the reach of his employees. At the end of the day the Supply and Demand curve will even itself out, and maybe we will see an increase in price that rises faster than inflation. It could also turn out, as it did in Ford's case, the rise in volume could be preferable. Frankly, this is likely since the perceived value of a burger is not tied to anybody's wage. Notice how often we see "Dollar Menu" specials at most of the joints.
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