Wage Strikes Planned at Fast Food Outlets in 100 US Cities on Thursday (12/5/13)

FlyersFan
AP has a story from this morning.
The TV News isn't talking about it.

AP News - Fast Food Strikes

In New York City, about 100 protesters carrying signs, blowing whistles and beating drums marched into a McDonald's at around 6:30 a.m.; one startled customer grabbed his food and fled as they flooded the restaurant, while another didn't look up from eating and reading amid their chants of "We can't survive on $7.25!"

Community leaders took turns giving speeches for about 15 minutes until the police arrived and ordered protesters out of the store. The crowd continued to demonstrate outside for about 45 minutes. A McDonald's manager declined to be interviewed and asked that the handful of customers in the store not be bothered.

*** Funny .. the NYC customer didn't even bother looking up when the whistle blowing strikers came in the McDonalds. Sounds like NYC ....

The customer had his "food" so somebody was working. How many of these "protesters" were actual workers and how many were the usual suspects of leftist activists and "community organizers" and professional protestors?

reply to post by NavyDoc


why don't you personally go down to where the protests are taking place and find out for yourself. but you won't, because you really don't care, your mind is already made up.

reply to post by jimmyx


I did this morning, in Pittsburgh. The protest was right out side of the building that I work in. All I saw was 8 people holding SEIU signs, one of whom was bragging that he was getting $10 per hour to be there and a bunch of college students. As soon as the news crews left, so did the protestors. As they were leaving the man that was collecting their signs told them to make sure that they were back at 11:45 AM so that they could be on the Noon news.

reply to post by JIMC5499


Oh, paid protestors backed by SEIU.

Who would have figured.

Gotta love the manufactured protesting of crap.

Cause and affect, I support the strikers, I agree with them that these employers should pay the workers a livable wage.

I wish you in opposition could get your heads around the constant spin your getting from conservative media sources. It amazes me how you all are both against entitlements and a livable wage, seriously whats wrong with you people? What kind of America do you envision? Food/soup lines, mass homelessness, obvious class system? Why are you all so against the American dream being available to all? Why is it only the upper class is benefiting from success?

The republican party has been actively going after unions and voter rights, did you not expect backlash? This is what it looks like, I expect much more in the future.

reply to post by macman


I'm pretty sure that most of them were not paid protestors. I'm also sure that most of them don't work in fast food either. What was funny was watching the news crews trying to make about 60 people look like 600.

reply to post by LDragonFire


I wish you Progressives would accept the idea of personal responsibility, taxing some to give to others is theft by any other name and that if you want to earn more you need to work your way to higher levels.

Instead of taking from some to give to others.

If all the workers at McDonalds were paid basically double what they make now, simple economics shows the cost of operations would increase dramatically, thus an increase in the goods offered, thus making it more expensive for the consumer, thus leading to a drop in sales, thus leading to a company reducing costs like employees to recoup lost revenue, thus leading to less people employed. All because you want the low rung of unskilled workers to be paid well above what the market dictates.

Funny, as every feel good emotionally driven cause put forward by Progressives seems to always hurt those they claim to defend.

LDragonFire
This is what it looks like, I expect much more in the future. ]

So, you expect more protests with paid protestors supplied by SEIU?
Yeah, that sounds like a true uprising.

If 0bama had a protest, it would look like that.

reply to post by macman


I'm a moderate thank you, I understand your conditioning has taught you if your not with you then your a liberal or progressive.

I support big mac price raised by a nickle to support the peoples "right" to earn a livable wage. If your a company in America not paying a livable wage your a drain on the whole economy and our way of life. I support raising taxes on companies that don't pay a livable wage and tax breaks for companies that do.

The rich keep getting richer, and people working at McDonald can't afford to feed themselves, this is not right!!

I think that I'm going to throw away $5.00 today and visit McDonalds and buy some crappy food, I'm sure that the raccoons near my house would enjoy something different. But to be truthful, I hope that these protesters get their way and MickeyD's closes all their stores due to them no longer being profitable.

I detest people who think that they are worth more than their sum. People who are to lazy to strike out on their own.

Wait? What's that I hear? There's no jobs? BS!

Why would someone live in NYC where the cost of living is outrageous and yet only work for minimum wage? That right there tells me that these people are brain dead.

jimmyx
reply to post by NavyDoc

 

why don't you personally go down to where the protests are taking place and find out for yourself. but you won't, because you really don't care, your mind is already made up.

And how do you know that they are? We've seen this before, over and over again, this is not new who does these protests. As for minds being made up, pot, hello, this is kettle calling.

LDragonFire


I'm a moderate thank you, I understand your conditioning has taught you if your not with you then your a liberal or progressive.

Basically even worse. What is the line from "Gangs of New York", something like

I know your works. You are neither cold nor hot. So because you are lukewarm, I will spew you out of my mouth.

LDragonFire

I support big mac price raised by a nickle to support the peoples "right" to earn a livable wage.

Funny, as it would not only take more then that, but it also isn't up to you as you don't own the business.
I do love the hubris in your thinking that you get to decide that for others.

LDragonFire
If your a company in America not paying a livable wage your a drain on the whole economy and our way of life. I support raising taxes on companies that don't pay a livable wage and tax breaks for companies that do.

So, we have yet again another example of the Govt picking and choosing what companies will be punished and rewarded.
So, handouts still to corporations. Thought you were against that.
Oh wait, I forgot, it is different right?

LDragonFire
The rich keep getting richer, and people working at McDonald can't afford to feed themselves, this is not right!!

It is perfectly right, if the Govt would get out of the business of providing the situations that continue this.

So, people will starve and die, if they work at McDonalds and aren't receiving Govt free stuff.
Man you have little faith in others. Are they too stupid to provide for themselves, or too lazy??

LDragonFire
reply to post by macman

 

I'm a moderate thank you, I understand your conditioning has taught you if your not with you then your a liberal or progressive.

I support big mac price raised by a nickle to support the peoples "right" to earn a livable wage. If your a company in America not paying a livable wage your a drain on the whole economy and our way of life. I support raising taxes on companies that don't pay a livable wage and tax breaks for companies that do.

The rich keep getting richer, and people working at McDonald can't afford to feed themselves, this is not right!!

What in your opinion, is a livable wage?
What does it mean in this day and age, being poor? [not including the federal gross pay guidlines]
What living standard defines struggling?

I guess I am asking, in your opinion what does being low/no income look like and what would a living wage look like?

I am asking because on paper, my family is considered middle class and we qualify for nothing as far as any kind of assistance both government and any local charities.

The people I know around my area and pretty much all the kids my son goes to school with are considered low income/no income. They qualify and get pretty much all there is to get assistance wise and truly lack for nothing. The struggles that I hear and see in my area have more to do with the red tape, wait period or requalifyng evry other month for programs/ things.

I hear from those I know that 15 an hour would allow them to be able to do this all this without having to rely on gov. or local charity programs.
The people I know also cannot understand why I can't afford what they have or get for their kids.
Then I usually share what we make /what gets taken out and what we have to pay for ourselves that they get for free.
15 an hour in their eyes still doesn't cut it unless they could get medicaid still, then maybe. If they had to pay out themselves what all they get in assistance, then 15 still doesn't make it.

JIMC5499
reply to post by jimmyx

 

I did this morning, in Pittsburgh. The protest was right out side of the building that I work in. All I saw was 8 people holding SEIU signs, one of whom was bragging that he was getting $10 per hour to be there and a bunch of college students. As soon as the news crews left, so did the protestors. As they were leaving the man that was collecting their signs told them to make sure that they were back at 11:45 AM so that they could be on the Noon news.

Anyone else find it mildly amusing that the paid protesters make a higher hourly wage than the McDonalds employees?

Instead of striking and losing a days pay, should have called in sick and volunteered for a position to protest a McD outside of the area you work in.

reply to post by palmalBlue2


I know, right? $15.00 a hour is barely enough to live where I am at here in Ohio. You really have to be frugal even at $21.00 a hour. And I'm single!

I could not even imagine trying to live on the above wages in NYC or even LA. It's just not possible.

These fast food joints are entry level positions, nothing more, nothing less. These are jobs for Teens entering the workforce, Seniors looking to pad their SS income and get out of the house and the mentally challenged so that they feel that they are contributing.

Someone trying to raise a family (or even take care of themselves) being employed at these places just shows me that they are not even really trying and have given up. Or they have a serious disconnect with reality.

reply to post by Libertygal

reply to post by beezzer
reply to post by macman

I am answering to all three of you, (as at least to me, personally) it seems as all of you are seeing the world too black and white.

Working hard and doing good choices is just a part of the success, there are many other variables out there, which many people, who have these, take these for granted and "guess" everybody else is the same.

Consider this for example, over 50% of people have IQ less than 100, while one in seven has it less than 85. Of course, many might dismiss IQ as being somewhat of a hoax, although at the end it is nothing more than the brains processing power, which enables the speed that one can learn something at. Compare it with a computer if you want. If you don´t have the processing power, many more complex programs are unable to run at your computer. Becoming a top-tier specialist or even above average in near to anything requires somewhat of a talent. There are a lot of people out there, who may work however hard, but never even reach the average level, simply due to lack of talent. Their top will always stay at the menial routine-based jobs, which do not require complex thinking. The decisions, especially financial ones are largely dependent on one´s intelligence. It is a fact, that majority of bad decisions made is done by people with lower intelligence. Prison population, for example, has significantly lower average IQ than the country´s.

I have yet to meet an engineer, good entrepreneur or a person being good at near to any high-paying job, who does is not blessed with a good mind. They might be ignorant sometimes and lack knowledge in certain areas, although at the end they are able to pick up on different things fast and their critical thinking skills, logic, analytical thinking has so far always been much stronger than the one of an average person.

Couple of weeks ago London mayor wrote an article about super-rich.

Of all the self-made super-rich tycoons I have met, most belong to the following three fairly exclusive categories of human being:
(1) They tend to be well above average, if not outstanding, in their powers of mathematical, scientific or at least logical reasoning. (2) They have a great deal of energy, confidence, risk-taking instinct and a desire to make money. (3) They have had the good fortune – by luck or birth – to be able to exploit these talents.

Also health can not be left out. For example, thyroid or adrenal gland problems, which are quite common can cause significant problems in one life - exhaustion from even the simplest things, fuzzy (not clear) thinking, impulsivity, very low attention span, concentration problems etc, which leads to significant productivity loss. It is easy to dismiss somebody as just being lazy or does not want to do something, while there are real problems behind it, which are near to being uncontrollable without being aware of them. There are many other health issues, including psychological ones, which can cause serious problems, which most, who have never gone these through (or have but for every person the symptoms are different), can not understand and simply dismiss as lack of ambition/lazyness. At the end nearly everything we do is up to certain point dependent on the hormonal balance of our bodies, for example stress tolerance is largely dependent on cortisol level, testosterone levels affect decision-making and risk-taking. A person could never become a top CEO or take some very large responsibility without very good adrenal glands functioning, as otherwise the pressure/stress would simply break them, as adrenal glands release cortisol (often-called stress hormone) during stressful times, which helps to release energy during stressful situations. The so-called burn-out is usually nothing more than keeping high stress-levels for too long period, which exhausts the adrenal glands,

Besides the genetic factors, environmental factors also play signifcant role of a developing person. Parent´s attention during early years can play significant role in one´s development as a person, just as the nutrition during the childhood can affect it a lot - these are facts. Different childhood issues can lead to significant emotional scars, which many do not have the power to come over, largely due to genetic factors. Psychology plays much larger part in our lives, than many believe it to.

Saying anybody can make it, they just need to work hard and make good decisions is an extremely naive statement. If somebody has become successful, hard work and good decisions play a part in it, althogh they would possibly be nowhere without their genetic profile, which they inherited.


I would say majority of factors behind one´s success, whether it is super-rich or an average player, achieving anything is a combination of many factors - natural talent, genetics (and environment), hard work and good choices to realise the potential and not screw up during the process, and of course some luck. Of course there are exception to the rule, but the odds are near to inexistent if one severaly lacks all of these.

Now a situational problem.

A minority with lower IQ (under 85) without any natural talents, everything below average, is born into an metropolitan ghetto area, born in the middle of crime and drugs. His fater is in prison and mother always working to make the ends meet, so he has the choice of. The nutrition quality is very bad. In the schools he has to go, there is no culture of learning, teachers are not good, as well as the other kids are not participating and not letting to learn. (I do not add it here, but very often in such situations, the kids will succumb to peer pressure due to no real family connection and kids search the intimacy of family from other groups/friends. That is very common reasons in the development of gangs). During teen years some health issues with thyroid hormones arise, which make it even harder, although the kid barely passes the high school (in majority of cases they don´t even without the health problems). There is no money or good enough mind to go to college or excel at anything.

Do you seriously believe that in such situation (this might seem extreme), that kid would ever have the ability to get to the top or even middle? Should he struggle all his life, starving, not having wife and kids, simply because of all the factors out of his direct control?

There are countless situations somewhat similar situation like that in US alone. In majority of cases, such cases simply lead to crime or other bad decisions. Even with somewhat of a talent, getting out is extreme hard, not even talking about the competition with the privileged ones, who are given all the advantages, from strong education to paid colleges. Extremely talented survive situations and succeed, but less talented stay at the bottom and have to spend the rest of their lives doing the lower-level jobs often due to lack of mental capabilities of doing something requiring higher skill.

Life is not that black and white as you make it seem like...

reply to post by Cabin


Yes, life is very much black or white in this.

It is not my fault, nor is it my problem that someone else has a lower IQ.
If, based upon your argument, the person with a low IQ is not able to upgrade their jobs, then they are suited for the low wage, unskilled position.

Very simple really.

Further more, people need to rise to the standards set by those that are excellent and successful. Not the other way around.

reply to post by macman


So due to "no luck" the person is born into a life of misery, always living month-to-month, barely having something to eat and a place to live at, while the "lucky" one, who was born with talent has the privilege of exploiting the untalented ones.

Reminds of slavery during feudalism - "It´s not my fault, that you weren´t born into a privileged family like I did, be happy that I give you something to eat for working 10+ hours a day (to make my family even more privileged than we already are)."

You know, Walmart would be able to pay all their employees a livable salary simply by raising the prices of "non-essential" products a bit, 5%-10%, like sweets, alcohol, soft drinks and different consumer items, excluding essential ones, like milk, bread, vegetables etc. The prices would still be low, 5 cents is not that much more to pay for a bottle of coke or a candybar. The retail market has currently lead to a few extremely large corporations, which no one is able to compete with due to their extreme revenues and the big one who pays their employees the least (in other words, exploits them the most) can keep the prices lowest and wins the marketshare. . Raising the salaries to 15 dollars an hour would not lead to any significant raise of prices, especially if the value is added to the non-essential products. Currently Walmart directly directly profits 3 cents per every dollar spent there and so they earn 25 billion a year net profit, revenue makes the profits.

reply to post by Cabin


Can I play too? As I said with my previous post.

These fast food joints are entry level positions, nothing more, nothing less. These are jobs for Teens entering the workforce, Seniors looking to pad their SS income and get out of the house and the mentally challenged so that they feel that they are contributing.

Your response reads like some of the college professors I've had. They take a general idea and muck up the waters with all sorts of theories. But no answers. And throwing money at problems never solves the problem. Unless it's a individual who is paying off their credit card. (I haven't had one since '88)

I've watched the interviews. Many seem to be paid protesters augmented by disgruntled employees (I wonder how long they'll be employed) and all managed to get their message across.

I want more!

But let's face the facts, paying somebody $15 to flip burgers, clean out the grease trap on the fryer is just not worth it. This will be the death of a lot of businesses if they have their way.

I have a very high IQ and to be truthful, it really doesn't matter to me. I started out mowing lawns, washing dishes and moving up the ladder to shift leader in the kitchen at the ripe age of 16, all the while working at our local airport fueling planes AND also working the produce section at the grocery store. I HATED working three jobs, it's exhausting. But they did give me the drive to move up and on. These protesters don't really seem to be willing to push themselves and that grates my nerves.

I've been homeless twice and never blamed anybody but myself, but I always arose to the challenge. These protesters don't seem willing to do so.

If they are healthy adults...it's their own fault that they are in the boat they're in as far as I'm concerned.

LDragonFire
Cause and affect, I support the strikers, I agree with them that these employers should pay the workers a livable wage.

I wish you in opposition could get your heads around the constant spin your getting from conservative media sources. It amazes me how you all are both against entitlements and a livable wage, seriously whats wrong with you people? What kind of America do you envision? Food/soup lines, mass homelessness, obvious class system? Why are you all so against the American dream being available to all? Why is it only the upper class is benefiting from success?

The republican party has been actively going after unions and voter rights, did you not expect backlash? This is what it looks like, I expect much more in the future.

edit on 5-12-2013 by LDragonFire because: (no reason given)

Once again, McDs and the like are not intended to provide livable wages. These are not jobs meant to support your family on. This is a job for a HS kid who lives at home and wants to buy a xbox game. It's not the corporations fault an adult with three kids got a job at McD to support their household.

The fact that we are harping on livable wage advocacy for a fast food job is illogical.

Yes I understand that time are tough however it's not McD's fault you cant find a job in your field and need to lower yourself to the fast food industry. The concept of higher wages to support adults because they cant find another job is literally charity. Why would the fast food industry do this when there are thousands of HS kids who WOULD take their place at a lower wage?

A career in fast food is NOT the american dream.