Fast-food workers walked off their jobs in dozens of cities Thursday, demanding a $15-an-hour minimum wage.
Union organizers say the strikes will reach 150 U.S. cities and several countries.
CNNMoney confirmed that workers were striking at a McDonald's in Trafalgar Square in London.
Danny Rosa started striking at 5 a.m. ET at the Burger King in Dorchester, Mass., where he works. He and a group of co-workers shouted the slogan, "Fight for $15 and union."
"I am proud that I am striking and I am trying to get a better life," Rosa said. "I am fighting for everyone in fast food."
Read - Fast-food workers strike across U.S.
Previously:
Opinion: Restaurants – someone's mother works here
Does your favorite restaurant take the high road with its workers?
How much should you tip for food delivery?
A life in waiting
Give a snarky quip (and no tip) and thy receipt shall end up on the internet
Yea most are illegals and or dropouts with IQs of 50 or less.
I worked in the fast food industry when I was younger and there is not a single position that is difficult. Minimum intelligence, minimum education and minimum effort = minimum wage! I work around electricity all day, everyday and people starting out in my field barely start off making $15 per hour so the fact that you people think you deserve it is absolutely ridiculous. Most of you cannot even get orders correct on a regular basis but yet you think you deserve more money. Your job takes NO skills at all but yet you can barely do it right..... please you don't even deserve the minimum wage you are currently getting. You want to make it anywhere you need to stop expecting people to give you something that you DON'T deserve.
I know nobody likes to hear this side of the argument, but does anybody care what a 100% increase in the minimum wage will do to those living in retirement or on a fixed income? Because I'm sure the government is not going to appropriately adjust social security or the COLA to maintain the buying power of the people who worked their butts off to make this country the world power it is today!
Very good point here.
I'd like to say I'd boycott fast food in support, but I am unable to remember the last year in which I ordered food at a fast food restaurant...
...Oh, and if things change for workers at them, my food-buying plans won't be changing. Those aren't hamburgers I'd want to eat.
Maybe dropping out of tenth grade was not such a hot idea after all...
Okay, $15 per hour, working 40 hours a week nets you around $30,000 a year. For flipping hamburgers and salting fries. Meanwhile, when I started teaching a few years ago, I signed my first contract for less than $30,000. How is it an unskilled worker makes more money than a degree-holding employee? If the minimum wage is increased, are the salaries of professionals going to be increased? What happens to the prices of everything? My salary remains relatively stagnant, but costs continue to rise. Is this going to exacerbate the situation?
Fast food jobs were never meant to support a family. They are entry-level positions for teenagers and college students; they are part-time spots to gain work experience. There is no reason they should be making the kind of money they are crying for.
I agree with your point 100%; working at a Fast Food place was never meant to be someone's career, unless they're able to work their way up into Managing a Fast Food place. The facts are that there are so many adults taking up all the spots at most Fast Food places that it's harder and harder for teens/college students to even get hired.
Do I believe everyone deserves to make a Liveable Wage, of course I do, provided that they're able to work a job that requires a skill or adds value. Someone taking an order through a drive-thru, or salting the fries, doesn't require either.
Most of us had choices when we were younger, we could've applied ourselves to getting the most from our primary education – and perhaps attempted to continue building our education through college – or we didn't try, and may have even dropped out. You can't now hold the Fast Food industry hostage and say "pay us more, because I made some bad choices".
I dropped out of HS when I was 18yrs; however, I quickly realized what a mistake I made, got my GED, and joined the US Navy. They taught and trained me in the field of Electronics, and I have used this in start throughout my entire career. Today I'm in my 50s and I've earned a 6-figure Income for the last 15yrs; all because I didn't choose to just live with my mistake.
I've said it before....if $15/hr is the wage at McDizzles you have yourself a new fry cook. Close to my current pay but without having to think, problem solve, educate, dress sharply, or be knowledgeable about anything outside of putting hamburgers together
I agree it sounds tempting. I have to think though, that at that pay rate you're going to be lucky to get more than 20 or 30 hours a week.
I'm sorry, but a no skill job of making burgers at McDonalds does NOT warrant $15.00 an hour. The living wage argument is ridiculous as a job at McDonalds is not meant to be a career.
Funny how Chic-Fil-A does not get mentioned here. Seems their workers are happy. Hmmm.....
Or they're brainwashed, like all the rest of you conservatards.
Good luck with that, but it will not happen. If this somehow goes through, automation will then become cost effective, and the number of jobs will evaporate. There is a McDonald's in Littleton, CO that is almost completely automated, which is the model for their future stores.
And don't even get me started on the whole union aspect.
Its simple math: We're not going to pay for $6 hamburgers at McDonald's and that is exactly what will happen if the minimum wage is increased to $15.
Actually, it will help people lose weight if this does happen. Both the unemployed workers and the ones who can't afford the more expensive burgers will lose.
That is simply incorrect. Take a look at other countries where the minimum wage is $15 or higher (more than double our minimum wage). They have McDonald's restaurants too and the price of burgers is less than 50 cents higher. Don't believe me? Do some research, or better yet ask an actual economist. Its silly to form a staunch opinion on a subject when you don't have all the facts.
Facts? Vat is dis facts?
Moe, I agree with you that most jobs in Europe have higher wages than those here in the USA, they also get better Benefits (Medical & Vacations). However, its also true that most of Euope have much higher Taxes & Unemployment, and that most Countries are going Broke.
Geez. When are people going to understand that fast food isn't meant to be a career.
$15.00 an hour to flip burgers? Ridiculous!
I'm with you, RC. However, if someone chooses to work in the fast food industry, there are ways to climb the corporate ladder and make it a career. One could even reach a $15 an hour pay rate at some point. All it takes is ambition & initiative. These who people protest are from the generation of ent i tlement, expecting corporate America to hand them a living wage.
Sorry your Mama didn't tell you this growing up: you have to WORK to EARN a living wage.
Amen, Sista! There's certainly nothing wrong with wanting to move up the ladder and better ones self. I just get the feeling that the majority of the people striking aren't looking for that. I agree it's the enti tlement mentality that's so prevalent these days.....sigh.