Somewhat recently I saw on the news that fast food workers in New York City who were working at Wendy's, McDonald's, and Burger King went on strike. Workers also walked off the job in Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, and other places (LINK). They were demanding a wage of $15 per hour, somewhat more than double the federal minimum of $7.25. This didn't exactly command a whole lot of headline bandwidth that day, as that my sense is that most of the rest of the nation regarded them as malcontents who were having a hissy fit.
Here we are a month or so later, and some fast food workers are threatening to walk out again on the 29th. From what I can tell they are being urged by SEIU, who would no doubt like to add more dues-paying members to their rolls. For decades fast food workers have been paid minimum wage upon hire, and those that perform well get more than minimum, and those that don't perform well are either canned or not given raises until they've had enough and move on. I was a fast food worker once, back in San Jose, and I learned a few things from that experience. It was not something that I did hoping to make a career out of; it was simply that I wanted some spending money and got tired of doing odd jobs to get money so that I could buy Bachman-Turner Overdrive records.
I learned a few things from that experience. One is that if you consistently work harder than the guy next to you, the manager then takes a liking to you and gives you more responsibility. My boss back then, named Clayton, was a real good guy and would sometimes let me run the store while he was upstairs with the assistant manager doing paperwork. Clayton knew then that I wasn't going to make a career out of working for him, yet took the time to help me become a better employee and insisted that his assistants act professional. He didn't blame me for finding another employer (not fast food) shortly after the robbery I survived, and within three weeks of my leaving he left too to pursue a career in electronics.
Sure, I started out at minimum wage. It was an entry-level job and was there to help me pay for college textbooks (as well as BTO records). I knew back then that I was destined for better things if I stuck with college and since my ambition was to become an engineer the job did help instill in me a motivation to pursue my studies. The point I'm making here, is that the purpose of the job was never to have a career in it. It was to get me started, and in spite of the minimum wage, I regard working there as a positive experience.
Now it appears that things have changed. From what I'm now reading, the attitude of some of the workers isn't the same as the one that I had when I was flipping burgers. I can well understand the extreme difficulty in trying to make a living working in fast food if you're living in a place like California. But those who are itching to strike should be well aware of a few things, and these next few paragraphs are directed at them.
One, the fast food industry really isn't obligated to pay you $75,000 a year. They aren't obligated to make you happy. They are not obligated to provide you with full coverage health care. Get used to it.
Two. We've got a lot of illegal aliens here who are out picking fruit and trimming bushes. Although I am not in favor of "amnesty", the way I see it is that they would be much more grateful to do your job for what they are paying you now. Why not step aside and let them take your place if you're not happy?
Three. There are a lot of community colleges out there who offer night (as well as day) classes in a wide variety of subjects. They can teach you how to weld, how to drive a truck, how to assemble circuit cards, and several other skills where you could increase your earning potential. What's stopping you from bettering yourself? Before I graduated high school I knew that I wanted to be an electrical engineer and I went on to get a degree in it; working in fast food and retail along the way.
Don't get me wrong. I don't think people who work in fast food are to be looked down upon in the sense that they're unskilled. The reality of it is, is that 90% of them are dedicated, and the local Jack-in-the-Boxes here (as well as In-N-Out Burger) have really good people working for them, who don't strike me as being some malcontent who thinks that he or she is entitled to a salary that would afford them a Ferrari and vacations at the Kahala Hilton. I think most of them have aspirations to do be doing something better thirty years from now, and more power to them.
But what's disturbing to me about this is this: I'm concerned that we have become a nation where people no longer wish to climb the ladder of success, and instead want the government to provide them an elevator free of charge.
