Fast-food walkout U.S. workers strike in several cities to call attention to low wages.

reply to post by Honor93

ETA -- here's more on those "owner built homes" that you dismissed earlier..

1) A custom designed home in the desert. Estimated cost, $15,000.

2) A recently renovated tract home. Not sure why you posted that.

3) A tract home for $10,000. Minimum wage ain't gonna get you that house. You won't qualify for the mortgage.

One owner built. 5 years before he could move in. Not completed and pretty far out of reach for a minimum wage worker. Not gonna get a loan to built it.

your $12/wk grocery bill is MORE THAN the downpayment on a house was, then !!!!

No. The down payment was $100 with a $10 deposit. You don't read so good do you?

reply to post by mblahnikluver

while i don't deny your experience, that was after 'regulation' not before.
in my generation, we were 'trained' to be tellers in high school and were well qualified enough to be placed in co-op work stations during senior year.
and, some of us were offered full-time positions upon graduation.

also, that was when we actually handled cash, lots of it, not the digital digits of today.
no computer screens ... adding machines, math skills, customer service, account mgt, and all of it with pen and paper.

nowadays, even with all of my cash handling experience, i cannot 'qualify' for a teller job.
(don't want one anyway but that's beside the point)

reply to post by Phage

don't know what you're linking but it won't even open on this computer.
i said UNemployement rate, where do you get 'poverty rate' from ?

1959s poverty rate is directly related to the increase in unemployment via 1958, what's your point ?

It was an observation directed at the fact that the recent increased poverty rate is due to unemployment, not low wages

quite frankly, i believe it is a combination of both but that isn't what we've been discussing either.

this topic is about the effects of the grossly low wages.
could you stay on-topic, please ?

besides, the unemployment rates, then and now are pretty relative ... 7.4 isn't too far away from 6.8 (1958)

data.bls.gov...

hmmmm, established history - reported poverty levels of the 1950s
(whichever yr is alluded to in each post)
or the misrepresented poverty level of 2013 that hasn't changed in decades ... your choice.

the current and un-adjusted poverty level is misrepresented, what is your confusion ??

reply to post by camaro68ss


I really don't think they're thinking about any thing other then the $.

While fast food is not glamorous by no way shape or form, I wager there might be some people out their willing to do the job without a finagled hourly increase,(I have worked in the industry not now but awhile back), I just don't think the job requirements are worth what they want and then having the industry come back at the public for as high as 25% increase. Well, there's still alot of people hurting, why do they think the restaurants have dollar or value menus?

Well, believe me if the company is not making a profit then those people will get their hours cut.

If they do decide to join a union? Unions sound nice in theory but wait til they have their dues increased every year,then they'll have something else to gripe about.

reply to post by Phage

yeah, i read it and i quoted it ... why are you ignoring it ???
alternately quoting a part that supports your argument is just, childish.

those that don't require at least a AS in Business do require cEUs to prove adequate education has been obtained.

not necessarily ... plumbers have to get permits also and sometimes they sub-contract with carpenter's to repair the structure once the plumbing is done.

really phage, what's with the dense act ?

building isn't the only task that requires permitting or licensing.
again, off-topic, aren't ya ?

You don't read so good do you?

apparently, you don't do ya ?

Imagine it — $10 deposit, $90 at settlement, and you had a house of your own!

i never said anything about the downpayment amount
(that was farther down in the article anyway)

point is, it was quite afforable, especially with a minimum wage job and no family to support.

you can argue the finer points all you like, you've been disproven over and over again.
far be it from you to concede or admit that you might have been mistaken.

btw, the article on the remodeled May house was to share the pics ... these are/were homes, not shacks or log cabins or one room squats but real homes for an affordable price.

Funny comparison I thought about with that proposed grocery list, based on the local prices at the Krogers here in town when priced out by todays standards:
3 pounds cheese $24
3 pounds turkey $24
3 loaves of bread $6
1 jar peanut butter $2
1 jar jelly $2
8 cans of soup $8
12 eggs $2
6 cans pork & beans $12
6 frozen chicken pie $21
5 pounds potatoes $6
1 box of crackers $3
1 pound pork roast $5
1 pound frozen vegetables $2

That totals $117. After cutbacks for the past couple years, here in Ohio food stamps only come to about $125/month (or less if you're earning any money). So that "very light" grocery list is what many are living on.

Minimum wage in 1956 $2080, grocery costs of $104.88 or 5.04% of income. Those same groceries today are $1404 annually with a minimum wage of $15080 or 9.31% of income. Just another metric of how the wage has not kept up. By this metric, minimum wage would need to increase 88% WITHOUT a corresponding increase in prices to get back to where it was.

reply to post by Honor93

those that don't require at least a AS in Business do require cEUs to prove adequate education has been obtained.

There is no such requirement listed. How many 18 year olds have a college degree?

i never said anything about the downpayment amount

Really. You didn't say this:

your $12/wk grocery bill is MORE THAN the downpayment on a house was, then !!!!

If you can't remember what you wrote 2 hours ago or want to lie about it, I'm pretty much done with you...surprised I lasted this long.

reply to post by Aazadan

Minimum wage in 1956 $2080, grocery costs of $104.88 or 5.04% of income.

Except that average food costs were $636 for a single person.
www.ars.usda.gov...

Just another metric of how the wage has not kept up.

Right. We know minimum wage is not keyed to inflation. It never has been.

reply to post by Phage

There is no such requirement listed.

it was posted and quoted.
end of argument ... moving on ...

your $12/wk grocery bill is MORE THAN the [color=amber]downpayment on a house was, then !!!!

suppose i did ... guess i made an error, huh ?
it should have read "deposit" but hey, i'm human, aren't you ?

If you can't remember what you wrote 2 hours ago or want to lie about it, I'm pretty much done with you.

good, be done with me ... you have no leg to stand on anyway.

since when did errors equate to "lying" ????
oh, that's right, i'm just a peon
superiority complex much ?

btw, i may be old and make errors, but at least i own up to them

reply to post by Phage

the 'study' you keep referencing isn't even factual, it is estimated, in one of the worst ways and it says so right here ... "this method is sometimes referred to as the "recall-list method" ... what a bunch of malarkey !!! that can be found on pg 3, 2nd column, 3rd paragraph.

it isn't about purchases or actual consumption but more about what a single family member can RECALL consuming in one particular week inclusive of in home and out of home dining experiences.

dude really, could you be any more presumptuous ???
this is hardly a factual accounting of food anything in the 1950s
not purchasing, consuming, harvesting, sharing or canning, stored foods or fresh slaughters.

geeeesh, what a bunch of you know what.

reply to post by filledcup


I just looked up Mcdonald's managers salaries on glass door. There were only 41 examples but the jist of it was the overall salary not including benefits for a manager is in the area of $50,000 I have no idea what kind of benefits they get but It does look like they have a profit sharing plan, I would love the see what their healthcare plan looks like but considering that they are mostly franchises I bet it varies a lot depending on number of employees. Considering the amount of work these managers do and all the crap they have to deal with If I was a manager I would would be asking for a pay raise too... lol.

reply to post by brandiwine14


Thank you for your post, it is good to see someone who agrees with these fast food workers. I haven't read a thread that infuriated me so greatly in such short amount of time until I read through this. I can't believe how out of touch or reality some of you people posting in here are. I am relieved to fine someone like you Brandiwine14 in agreement with the strike.

I absolutely approve and agree with these fast food workers, they do deserve a raise. I also believe that if they do get that raise, they should have a higher degree of standards. Imagine each time you go through the drive through your order is always perfect, food cooked the way you like, friendly staff, clean envrionment, happy workers, all for just a slight more per order. I would be happy with this. And no it doesn't mean that the mechanic and everybody up needs a raise, it simply means the 1% who benefits off of the most profit simply doesn't get his yacht.

I am frustrated by the people who talk down to fast food workers, or minimum wage workers and feel justified in this because they think the people they talk to are uneducated or have no skills etc. It is ignorant and makes you sound so foolish and like a horrible person, it really does.

Like Brandi was saying, many people are born into poverty, and cant just quit their job to go to school and then land in a career. Are you serious? What planet are you from? Personally I went to school and got my masters in architecture and found absolutely no place that would hire me, the next thing I know student loans crush the life out of me, and now I am working at a call center, where I have mostly baby boomers and other out of touch folks who call me all day long and treat me like I am some uneducated unskilled dope. Truth is many of the "kids" working these fast food restaurants have degrees and are crushed by debt and are barely making it, while the baby boomers continue sucking the life out of the economy. It's bull is what it is, I would like to see some of you well educated and "skilled" folks who so easily condemn minimum wage workers, lets see you do their job. Or lets see how well you would do if everything you were educated and skilled on was no longer in need, or was not hiring. You would be the same.

I really regret reading this infuriating thread so late at night, but criticize me along with the minimum wage workers, I am more like them and relate to them much more than any of you out of touch baby boomers or republicans who actually believe hard work and education and capitalism actually work. Yeah right, someday you will see it from our perspective.

Originally posted by MikeNice81

Phage
reply to post by filledcup

 

Did you read the article?

I agree. The cost of a burger would not go up. But it would make McDonald's come up with other ways to lower their costs. Fewer employees for example.

edit on 8/31/2013 by Phage because: (no reason given)

In Europe they replaced 7,000 cashiers with touch screen computers in 2011. How many owners would consider that move if American workers suddenly cost $15 an hour plus the increase in tax liabilities? People don't think about those kind of consequences.

I would hazard a guess that the workers probably haven't thought of this hitch.... While the initial investment would be Huge to implement that many touch screens they would probably pay for themselves after the first 6 months. No need for healthcare for a touch screen, they don't need benefits, they don't steal from the company they don't talk back and need little maintenance. Honestly I'm a little surprised they haven't already started to implement this on a wide scale here in the states.

And you make a great point about the tax liability, The workers comp taxes alone would skyrocket since they are based both on amount of workers and the wages they are paid. People get injured at work.... doesn't matter what your job is.... some people defraud the system by being able to skim through preexisting conditions only to get their free ride by getting "injured" at work. It looks like a bad call all around. I hold to the opinion that these low paying jobs are meant more for our high school kids or for college kids looking to work while they are going to school. Anyone else willing to take them should just shut their mouths and reevaluate their life's ambitions, if they think they are getting shafted for doing a monkeys job and getting paid in bananas then it is time to either get some skills or find another job that pays more without having the skills in the first place.

reply to post by Beartracker16


It is good that these workers are finally starting to stand up for themselves. And yes they should fight for more pay.

But I would like to point out the contraction of base line wage and Capitalism. I was born and grew up in America and spend most of my 20`s there. There was something I always noticed every time the minimum wage would be increased; the cost of things would also increase. You see, Capitalist will avoid any decreased in their profits even if a drop in private profits would benefit the people greatly. So, to off set union victories for higher wage or government laws to increase wage, Capitalist will increase the retail price of good and services. Thus, they get back the money they are giving the workers. No real lose of profits and no real gain for the workers.

Workers should still fight for higher wages but it will come to a point in which this contradiction will cause the Capitalist ability to have highest profit as possible and operate the company at the lowest cost possible to collapse. If and when that happens, smart workers should attempt to take control of the means of production and operate it for themselves and all the benefit would go directly to them. With all of that said, it is clear the breaking point in the contradiction is far form being reached yet.

Originally posted by mblahnikluver

oblvion

A cashier and a bank teller literally have the exact same job, but in your reasoning ( obviously flawed IMHO) the teller is somehow "skilled" and the cashier is "unskilled"

They take the exact same amount of skill, one makes a decent middle class salary, one makes substantially less.

Exact same job....... exact same skill set.........different outcome.

You couldn't be more wrong.

I worked as a bank teller and I've been a cashier and they are NOTHING alike. To say so is just silly and shows you have no idea what you are talking about.

A bank teller deals with large sums of money and other peoples money is in their hands! They are responsible for people's accounts including business accounts. They also set up accounts and also have to do various other tasks like savings bonds, cashier's checks and other similar things. Sorry but when I was a cashier at two different grocery stores and at various retail shops I NEVER handled that kind of money nor were people's money in my hands! I found my cashier jobs to be much easier and less stressful.

A bank teller requires experience a cashier does not. You can't even get a job as a bank teller without years of cash handling experience. Yet as a cashier you dont' need experience, they train you. The training i received as a teller was far more advanced than the cashier training. We spent a week just on counterfeit money. You have training for a month. I have never had training for a month as a cashier.

So no they are not the same.

As a teller I made 10 bucks an hour and this was over 10yrs ago. As a cashier I made minimum wage which varied depending on when I worked. When I first started working minimum wage was like 3.75!

OK, cashier takes other peoples money, keeps the businesses side of the transaction, and returns the other peoples left over money to them.

When were you a cashier? In like the 70's?

Today a typical cashier is handling and issuing many different forms of currency, checks, money orders, cashier checks, western union transactions, other money transfers, bill payment, prepaid card loading and activation, calling cards, direct prepaid phone loads, cashing checks and money orders and handling money transfers.......all the way to prepaid E-bay cards and X-box live microsoft points.........

As well as selling alcohol smokes fuel food, preparing food, stocking and cleaning all the store...etc

Most convenience stores are like a gas station, a check cashing place, a liquor store, a grocery store, a fast food joint, a western union office and a bank all in one.

Most will even be able to give the change you desire from a $100 bill if you buy a 35 pack of gum.

Yes the bank teller handles larger sums of money, but the accountability works the exact same, and most cashiers are still handling several thousands of dollars in transactions every few hours.

These jobs are quite alot more the same than your trying, quite badly, to claim.

Originally posted by kdyam

Originally posted by MikeNice81

Phage
reply to post by filledcup

 

Did you read the article?

I agree. The cost of a burger would not go up. But it would make McDonald's come up with other ways to lower their costs. Fewer employees for example.

edit on 8/31/2013 by Phage because: (no reason given)

In Europe they replaced 7,000 cashiers with touch screen computers in 2011. How many owners would consider that move if American workers suddenly cost $15 an hour plus the increase in tax liabilities? People don't think about those kind of consequences.

I would hazard a guess that the workers probably haven't thought of this hitch.... While the initial investment would be Huge to implement that many touch screens they would probably pay for themselves after the first 6 months. No need for healthcare for a touch screen, they don't need benefits, they don't steal from the company they don't talk back and need little maintenance. Honestly I'm a little surprised they haven't already started to implement this on a wide scale here in the states.

And you make a great point about the tax liability, The workers comp taxes alone would skyrocket since they are based both on amount of workers and the wages they are paid. People get injured at work.... doesn't matter what your job is.... some people defraud the system by being able to skim through preexisting conditions only to get their free ride by getting "injured" at work. It looks like a bad call all around. I hold to the opinion that these low paying jobs are meant more for our high school kids or for college kids looking to work while they are going to school. Anyone else willing to take them should just shut their mouths and reevaluate their life's ambitions, if they think they are getting shafted for doing a monkeys job and getting paid in bananas then it is time to either get some skills or find another job that pays more without having the skills in the first place.

It is a fact that Americans prefer an actual human to complain to than a machine.

Ever tried to talk to the automated line for anything? Ya, exactly!!!!

reply to post by oblvion


I was born in 78 so I couldnt have been a teller then. NO need for smart remarks.

Sorry again I disagree. Have you been a teller? No you haven't otherwise you would see my point.

If being a teller was SO easy then anyone would be able to get that job but they can't. Pretty much anyone can get a job as a cashier at a 7-11 or grocery store.

I will never see the two positions as equal. I have experience with both and as a cashier I had far less responsibilities than as a cashier at Publix or any other store I worked as just a cashier.

The only commonality imo is they handle cash and some deal with similar transactions other than that no I see nothing the same.

I was a teller in the 2000s

Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by Aazadan

 

Except I've shown now for both 1950 and 1956 that it did.

Except that your food bill of $2 dollars a week is absurd. As the statistics for 1955 show.

But, Ok. I agree that at $1 single person could have pulled it off but not as comfortably as you think.

edit on 8/31/2013 by Phage because: (no reason given)

Phage, you haven't thought it through. Back in the 50's there were MANY, MANY, MANY, MANY, MANY people who had these neat things called ------> Gardens.... and CANNED large amounts of food. Besides the fact that coming out of a depression, having livestock was very common. rabbits, few goats, and chickens,

all throughout the Midwest, where these jobs were

Originally posted by mblahnikluver
reply to post by oblvion

 

I was born in 78 so I couldnt have been a teller then. NO need for smart remarks.

Sorry again I disagree. Have you been a teller? No you haven't otherwise you would see my point.

If being a teller was SO easy then anyone would be able to get that job but they can't. Pretty much anyone can get a job as a cashier at a 7-11 or grocery store.

I will never see the two positions as equal. I have experience with both and as a cashier I had far less responsibilities than as a cashier at Publix or any other store I worked as just a cashier.

The only commonality imo is they handle cash and some deal with similar transactions other than that no I see nothing the same.

I was a teller in the 2000s

Well see, the problem I have with your story is this.

I was born in 78, I began working at 15, I made the minimum wage, of $4.15 at Hardees( carls junior in the south).

I plainly remember those days, and the pay. I doubt anyone would have forgotten their first job or first pay rate or first pay raise even, I know I havent. It has been a long hard road of ups and downs for me over the years to where I sit today.

Hell I can pretty much tell you every single pay rate and raise of every single job I have ever had.

So I find it hard to believe, you are so "skilled" and cant even remember somthing as life changing as your pay at your first job, in fact I have never heard of anyone that doesnt clearly remember that number.

For most folks, it is like the name of your first love, or your first pet, it is one of those things that tends to stick with you for ever.

You cant honestly try to tell me that bank tellers have so much more on their plate than a modern cashier. The only difference is the amount of money transfering hands, and arguably, the cashier still has way more duties, as they are doing all these time sensitive things while still managing the flow of customers in a timely manner.

Bank tellers....well we have all been there. In line, waiting for like 20 minutes, and still waiting, while all these guys did was cash 4 paychecks and transfer funds into 3 different accounts.

Please, the cashier at my local gas station would do all that, while running all the checks through check systems, and making 8 different money orders, putting fuel on 6 different pumps, making 12 hotdogs, refilling the cups twice, and still helping 35 customers, while loading 4 different prepay cards, activating phone cards, and still remeber that I was supossed to be out of town this week, and greeting me with the usual " green bay is gonna get pwned opening day" comment that he has been daying to me nonstop for the last month.

Big difference is volume.

Banks take their time, they can, the cashier is about speed and efficiency, while juggling many simultaneous tasks, and not messing it up, or he will lose his crap paying job for one mistake that costs the company a couple of dollars in all that chaos.


I just dont fathom how you can say the things your saying, I think you have been to far removed for far too long from the world MOST of the folks in the country inhabit.

Next time your in a convenience store during peak time, watch them work. If they are not skilled, than you sir dont recognize talent when you see it.

Sure there are alot more gas stations than banks, so there will be alot larger labor pool for these jobs, but these people are not any more "skilless" than a bank teller.

A bank teller could easily be replaced with one of them, with less than a couple of days of training no problems at all.

and this my friends is exactly where 'technology' has led us

we all have skills, the question is which team are your skills going to enhance.
the team that steals from us or the team that shares with us.
the choice is yours.