211–220 of 753 posts
Unions, unions, unions.
There’s a compelling argument that unions, combined with the fight for $15 minimum wage, will do nothing but make the situation worse. Nobody is going to pay $20 for a burger and fries. McDonald’s would either have to go almost entirely automated or cease to exist as a company.
Her job is already going away; McDonald's around me have already replaced cashiers with kiosks. Unionizing and requiring $15/hr + full benefits is only going to accelerate McDonald's automation plans. Is the answer to fight for $15/hr or is the answer to go back to school, apply to more jobs, and/or go into a trade? Honest question.
> is the answer to go back to school Without money ? My girlfriend was a cashier. Now she's studying law because my job can provide for us and we have free healtcare in belgium. Otherwise it would be impossible ! > apply to more jobs That basically mean more slavery since she will apply for job that pay like McDonalds. It wont solve any problem. > and/or go into a trade I don't understand what your mean here.
He thinks poor people could be electricians helpers tomorrow instead of mcds cashiers if they only applied themselves.
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> I definitely push back on the idea that McDonalds is cheap If you work there, it is. But I was talking about Taco Bell for non McDonalds workers, which IS cheap. Your groceries list again is assuming there is enough time(and energy) to prepare the food.
I absolutely understand where you're trying to come from, but I think it seems like a bit of a stretch. Saying lack of time to prepare a healthy meal is a valid reason for poor eating habits is a weak excuse. Pan frying an egg and some veggies (using food item examples above) takes less than 5 minutes.
Other than the low salaries, there are two compounding issues here: – Transportation. The US is very unfriendly to forms of transportation that are not cars. There are a few exceptions, but these are exceptions. Good public transport or even bike lanes would massively improve conditions for a lot of people. – Health care. Private companies are overcharging people and have made health care(hospitals and medication) un…
Bring up public transit or bicycling to people in nearly every non-urban part of the United States and you'll get a million reasons why it won't work.
Car culture is so engrained in America that people have convinced themselves there is no alternative. "I'd get sweaty", "Oh but I have to carry...", "Walking to the stop would take...", "My kids...", "I don't want to sit next to people..." . Even the rare people who actually have to drive refuse to understand why they should be among the strongest proponents of alternative and public transit.
Everybody seems to be latching on to the McDonald's part of her story, the author included. But it's the hospital part I find mortifying. McDonald's is pinching pennies left and right, it's their key to success. The hospital is not. How much would you guess they're charging per day for the average patient to stay there? I bet it's enough money to cover full-time employment and benefits for their food service workers.
Minimum wage laws are fundamentally a tax on low-margin businesses and the low-wage workers who frequent them. There's a better option available. The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). It can ensure that workers take home $15/hour, while also ensuring that the cost is borne by the entire society. Not just a few specific industries and the specific demographics that rely on them.
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>I often work with people who have never worked such jobs. They're upset that they're 'overworked' and spend their time in the fancy break room with all the perks. Many I suspect have no clue. Not that it's a realistic idea but damn if everyone had experiencing working in the demanding, underpaid, crappy jobs in the service industry, we might be more empathetic and better off as a whole.
I'm not so sure about that. I worked in a takeout place for a few years, and it just made me a lot more cynical. the privileged and the poor seem to enjoy abusing service workers at about the same rate in my experience.
Agreed. When I worked retail and waiting jobs, I got grief from both out-of-touch wealthy people, and bitter poor people (although there were also kind people from both of those categories).
Her job is already going away; McDonald's around me have already replaced cashiers with kiosks. Unionizing and requiring $15/hr + full benefits is only going to accelerate McDonald's automation plans. Is the answer to fight for $15/hr or is the answer to go back to school, apply to more jobs, and/or go into a trade? Honest question.
I suspect we'll see high-paying jobs getting automated even faster, so her newly acquired skills may become obsolete before she graduates (also, she won't be able to afford the tuition fees). I don't think there's an answer to this problem: Nash equilibria cannot be easily beaten unless someone is imposing the rules and enforcing compliance... which probably won't happen.
For example plumbers.
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>I often work with people who have never worked such jobs. They're upset that they're 'overworked' and spend their time in the fancy break room with all the perks. Many I suspect have no clue. Not that it's a realistic idea but damn if everyone had experiencing working in the demanding, underpaid, crappy jobs in the service industry, we might be more empathetic and better off as a whole.
I agree wholeheartedly with this. Everybody needs a &^%$ job once in a while to reset their empathy scale. Walmart does something interesting for their software development process. Say a developer is working on a warehouse automation system -- that dev. is then trained and works in the warehouse for a month. Same goes for checkout/cashier, or customer service, or whatever. You WORK that job for a month and you'll un…
That probabbly explains why there are such great free development tools out there too ;)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There’s a compelling argument that unions, combined with the fight for $15 minimum wage, will do nothing but make the situation worse. Nobody is going to pay $20 for a burger and fries. McDonald’s would either have to go almost entirely automated or cease to exist as a company.
In 2017, McDonald's had 235,000 employees and paid its shareholders $7.7 billion. Compelling argument, all right.
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No, it’s closer to $15 (depending on what you get), which is still too high to be tenable here. https://www.aussieprices.com.au/mcdonalds-prices/
That page indicates a Big Mac meal (which includes a drink, too) starts at $9.80, which is US$6.70. The cost for this meal appears to be US$5.99 in the US - quite similar. That's not close to $15 (or $20) by any stretch of the imagination.