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Detroit Fast Food Workers' Strike Shuts Down Locations
AFL-CIO ^ | 5/10/2013 | Kenneth Quinnell

Posted on 05/11/2013 12:02:04 PM PDT by mdittmar

Fast food workers at more than 60 restaurants in Detroit walked off the job Friday. This may be the largest fast food strike in American history, involving more than 400 workers from McDonald's, Long John Silver's, Burger King, Popeyes and KFC. Some locations were forced to shut down. At issue is workers' right to form a union and an increase in base pay to a minimum of $15 per hour.
 

Pastor W.J. Rideout III, a leader in Detroit’s Good Jobs Now coalition, said the organic action was a result of a long history of mistreatment of fast food workers:

“They’ve been wronged in so many ways, it really doesn’t take much coaching to say, hey, we’re going to organize together, we’re going to stand up together,” he said.

“There are 50,000-plus fast food employees in the Detroit metro area…and they’re not even giving them the proper amount of hours,” Rideout said. “At 40 hours a week, they’re making about $15,000 a year, and they’re not even getting 40 hours a week.” Instead, managers hire many employees on an exclusively part-time basis. “Some of them are getting between 15 and 20 hours a week, and that’s barely enough to pay a cellphone bill.”

Reports are coming in that one McDonald's called in replacement workers, some of whom then joined the strike.

The strike in Detroit follows on the heels of similar actions in New YorkPennsylvaniaChicago and St. Louis.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Extended News; News/Current Events; US: Michigan
KEYWORDS:
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To: N. Theknow

You’ve got that right. When I get nudged about my being self-employed, I tell ‘em: “I only get paid for the crops I reap, not the fertilizer I spread.”


41 posted on 05/11/2013 12:43:58 PM PDT by pingman (Trust a lib? Surely you jest!)
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To: mdittmar
There is a Documentary called Detropia (IIRC) it shows a Union meeting of Auto-workers being presented a last contract from an engine manufacturer. They are told that if this contract is not accepted they will move to Mexico. They vote the contract down. And guess what, the plant moves to Mexico. Now they are going to try and force Fast Food Restaurants to pay MORE that was offered for the starting salary at this Engine Manufacturing plant.

WTF is wrong with these people?

42 posted on 05/11/2013 12:45:32 PM PDT by Mad Dawgg (If you're going to deny my 1st Amendment rights then I must proceed to the 2nd one...)
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To: mdittmar

At that wage, people will go to sit-down restaurants because they would be cheaper. Then the restaurants that agree to the AFL-CIO’s demands will all close. The former workers will be union members - unemployed union members.


43 posted on 05/11/2013 12:46:49 PM PDT by Pollster1 ("Shall not be infringed" is unambiguous.)
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To: mdittmar
***Pastor W.J. Rideout III, a leader in Detroit’s Good Jobs Now coalition, said the organic action was a result of a long history of mistreatment of fast food workers:***

I'm tired of all these religous/spiritual ‘leaders’ chiming in on issues they have only limited understanding, if any at all. This is not their area, and nobody benefits from their input.

Not talking about so-called separation of Church and State, just keeping their nose out of places it really doesn't belong. Besides, their time is better spent on facilitating a spiritual revival in this country instead of ‘social justice’.

44 posted on 05/11/2013 12:46:57 PM PDT by MichaelCorleone (Keep your eyes on Jesus. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.)
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To: bert

I cant wait till the strikers burn down the buildings to prove their point and that they mean business!....lol.....Detroit about to become the “Darwin Award” capital of the US!


45 posted on 05/11/2013 12:47:46 PM PDT by M-cubed
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To: mdittmar
When low-wage, low-skill workers demand higher wages in any industry automation soon follows. Automated burger joints are already a reality.

http://momentummachines.com/

[This self-contained, automatic device sees raw ingredients go in one end and the completed custom-made burgers come out the other at the rate of up to 400 per hour. The machine stamps out the patties, uses what the company says are “gourmet cooking techniques never before used in a fast food restaurant,” applies the toppings (which are cut only after ordering to ensure freshness), and even bags the burgers.]

http://www.gizmag.com/hamburger-machine/25159/

46 posted on 05/11/2013 12:49:25 PM PDT by Brad from Tennessee (A politician can't give you anything he hasn't first stolen from you.)
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To: mdittmar
A strike shutting down fast food joints in Detroit...

Doesn't that make the union inherently racist? Just sayin'.

47 posted on 05/11/2013 12:51:34 PM PDT by LaybackLenny
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To: Mad Dawgg

When are these companies going to start getting smart and fight back against Union Goon tactics?

Why is it that nobody ever sues the Unions? They are nothing more than private “non profit” (laugh) corporations.

I would fight on the grounds of “tortious interference with an employment contract” or something like that. A 3rd party cannot just go around hurting businesses like this without legal consequences.

The only way to combat all this liberal crap is to fight it everytime it rears its ugly head...


48 posted on 05/11/2013 12:52:02 PM PDT by neverbluffer
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To: dila813

Any surviving business in Detroit is based on EBT card receipts....


49 posted on 05/11/2013 12:53:47 PM PDT by M-cubed
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To: mdittmar

“...that’s barely enough to pay a cellphone bill.”

The truth be known, they don’t have cellphone bills as
the 99.9% have Obamaphones!

Detroit Denby, Class of 67


50 posted on 05/11/2013 12:55:49 PM PDT by wetgundog (" Extremism in the Defense of Liberty is no Vice")
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To: MichaelCorleone

Putting his nose in places where it doesn’t really belong has probably made him a lot of money. Waaaaay more than $15.00 per hour. We all know why he is in the business of race.


51 posted on 05/11/2013 12:59:52 PM PDT by certrtwngnut (')
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To: All

Oh dear - I guess a few people will have to make their own lunch for a while.


52 posted on 05/11/2013 1:06:06 PM PDT by rockrr (Everything is different now...)
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To: mdittmar
Well, most of the good paying jobs, manufacturing etc went off-shore to places like Communist China... So of course the unions were going into the low income retail and fast food businesses.

Fact is, people working at these places cannot survive on their income..Even at full time which few offer ...They can't even afford low rents, food, insurance, health care nothing.........zip...

53 posted on 05/11/2013 1:07:34 PM PDT by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
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To: PGR88

I cannot wait to hear the calls to 911: My chicken place be closed .


54 posted on 05/11/2013 1:08:07 PM PDT by Mouton (108th MI Group.....68-71)
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To: ColdOne

COST??? Who buys...they steal it. Drive up,point gun,get food. Or the thugs who work there just hand it over to friends.


55 posted on 05/11/2013 1:09:21 PM PDT by ClearBlueSky (When anyone says its not about Islam...it's about Islam. That death cult must be eradicated.Do what)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

My thoughts exactly/
But they want to see EVERYTHING out of context.
Without that , they’d be forced to look at the REAL
reasons for the cutbacks, the shortened hours, and everything
else. It’s as though they are FORCED to demand the upped pay scale to $15 to make up for the shortened hours.
Doesn’t work that way.
Thank Obama for your discomfort.


56 posted on 05/11/2013 1:11:55 PM PDT by supremedoctrine
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To: mdittmar

At $15 per hour of pay who exactly will be able to afford to eat in those restaurants? Not the clientele most fast food restaurants serve.

There won’t be a dollar menu any longer at $15 per hour, that’s for sure.


57 posted on 05/11/2013 1:13:23 PM PDT by leapfrog0202 ("the American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of personal discovery" Sarah Palin)
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To: Mad Dawgg
WTF is wrong with these people?

They are Socialists.

58 posted on 05/11/2013 1:18:29 PM PDT by mdittmar
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To: Chode

That is a great picture.
As someone who has been in the building trades for 35 years
it is one of the sadder house ruins I’ve seen.
The house actually appears to be crying, screaming and in
total pain.
Where’d the pic come from—It’s Detroit, is it related to the 2 previous pix?


59 posted on 05/11/2013 1:19:10 PM PDT by supremedoctrine
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To: mdittmar

Not to worry. $15.00 Whoppers and $20 snak-paks will bring in enough money to cover the costs.

Just another example of galloping ignorance.


60 posted on 05/11/2013 1:21:57 PM PDT by plangent
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