Fast-food workers in KC [+NAACP+Unions+Organizers] join national protest over ‘poverty wages’

The Kansas City Star ^ | July 29, 2013 | Diane Stafford

[kevcol]

U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver

Speaking at a podium set up on the Troost sidewalk, Terrance Wise, who works two part-time jobs at a Burger King and Pizza Hut, said the rally was organized because “these billion-dollar companies aren’t magically going to make our lives better overnight.”

Nationally, protest organizers are calling for pay of $15 an hour, which would be more than double the current federal minimum of $7.25 an hour.
.
.
U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, who spoke at the Kansas City rally, said it was unlikely that the current Congress will vote to raise the minimum wage, but he believes the issue will influence voters’ decisions in the next midterm elections.
.
.
About a dozen area organizations support the Kansas City coalition. Many had representatives at the rally. They include the NAACP, Jobs With Justice, Communities Creating Opportunity, locals affiliated with the AFL-CIO and other unions, the Cross Border Network, and the Midwest Center for Equality and Democracy.
.
.
In St. Louis, Martin Rafanan, a community director for STL735, the group that organized the protest, said, “These workers need a raise and they need representation in the workplace.”

[VeniVidiVici]

Strike! And I hope your ass gets fired.

[Wiggins]

http://exhibitions.nypl.org/lunchhour/exhibits/show/lunchhour/automat

[rktman]

Looks like some job openings are at hand. For people who need the money. Obviously these asshats don’t understand econ 101.

[Dilbert San Diego]

What they don’t understand is basic economics.

If these companies have to pay their hired help $15 an hour, vs. $7.25 minimum wage, then the price of Bic Macs and everything else sold at these places will have to rise as well.

Arguably, fewer hamburgers will be sold, if McDonald’s and others have to raise the prices to cover the cost of substantially higher wages for these low skilled workers.

How many of you would pay $9 for a Big Mac meal? How many of you pay $5.99 right now for same, but would be unwilling to pay $9 for that?

I worked years ago in the finance area of a major fast food franchisee which operated over 20 fast food places. The biggest expense was paying the hired help. The profit margin of each store was very small, less than 5%. It’s predictable that the offset to substantially higher wages will be increases in the retail price of what they sell. But again, how many of you will pay substantially more for a Big Mac? Would a sharp increase in price encourage you to seek alternatives?

These people either don’t know how these things work, or else just assume that people’s behavior in what they buy will not change if the increases in pay they want are made.

[FlingWingFlyer]

If they double the minimum wage, the fast food joints will have to double the cost of their food. Who wants to pay 10 or 15 bucks for a fast food cheeseburger? Like all union morons, they fools are going to protest themselves right out of a job.

[fungoking]

OK burger flippers I know this sounds harsh but I say it out of love...if you want to make more money put your sign down and get your GED, then enroll at the local cc, then go for a 4 year degree in something employers want...OR go learn a trade.

Just quit trying to force employers to GIVE you something you haven’t earned.

[stuck_in_new_orleans]

I love watching fat adult slobs protesting for more money that a teenager can do.

[max americana]

“problem is these are meant to be entry level jobs; not a career.”

BINGO!!

And that’s why nobody got it. I’ve always said to high school students is to take fast food jobs...so you will hate it and respect higher education. I worked in HS for Mcd’s and Subway and vowed never to end up there after the sophomore year. How come these ghetto morons never got the concept of fast food employment?? It’s supposed to be a TEMP job.

[kearnyirish2]

I’m surprised by the number of blacks in those photos; in my area (northern NJ) all of these jobs have been taken by Hispanics unless you are in the blackest of neighborhoods. The managers usually have Arabic names.

[fella]

I notice that these starving “workers” (I wonder how many of them actually work in a fast food place) are striking mainly in Rat controlled cities.

[fella]

It's like fatsos demonstrating against MacDonald's....unclear on the concept.

Ain't that a hoot. Every fast food place with strikers should just shut down until the strikers leave and then not accept EBT cards foe a couple of weeks or months.

[GeronL]

I thought so.

:p

[GeronL]

er.... “5 dollar.... 5 dollar.... McGoober”... nah!

[GeronL]

EBT in Texas, here, is not supposed any prepared food

[dagogo redux]

The issue (minimum wage) is never the real issue: the real issue is always The Revolution.

The cause (economic justice) is never the real cause: the real cause is always the accumulation of power.

Commies. F ‘em. Let them walk off the job.

Someday soon, conservatives will have a general strike. Then there will REALLY be problems.

[calex59]

Wearing expensive T-shirts and carrying professionally made signs. None of these people are in danger of starving to death by the looks of them. This demonstration was paid for by the Demwit party, I would bet on it.

What they are too stupid to know is if everyone making minimum wage gets a raise, other people who have jobs higher in the food chain will have to get paid more also. The prices of everything in the country will go up, not just fast food, their 15 bucks an hour won't buy them a penny more than they get with their 7.50 now after about one year.

[DaveA37]

Those “rocket scientists” that are protesting for higher wages need to take their “skills” to jobs which they are so well qualified for. Then, and only then can they “demand” higher wages. When you have difficulty speaking English, making change and placing an order into a computer, IMO you are not even qualified for the job you currently have.

Simply, if you are not making enough money on the job you currently have you have a few choices.

1. Find a second job.
2. Go back to school and learn something (anything)
that might qualify you for more money.
3. Be happy you have the job you are not
qualified to hold.