Striking fast-food workers missing point of their jobs
Jul 30, 2013, 5:58 PM | Updated: 7:54 pm
Fast-food workers striking for living wage? So how much would a burger cost?
Fair enough. Arnobio Morelix, a research assistant at the University of Kansas School of Business, points out not as much as you might think. My bigger issue is the idea that working the drive-thru window or fry machine is “worth” $15 an hour or that you should be able to raise a family of four on it. These jobs were created to give young people (mostly teenagers) their first job. Teach them responsibility, how to work with others and the public, what it’s like to have a boss, etc. Far be it from me to tell people how to earn a living, but few of us believe busing tables at Mickey D’s constitutes a “career.”
Of course, these strikes are being driven by unions that see this as an opportunity to add to their shrinking membership rolls and are hoping to do to the fast-food industry what they did to the steel and auto industries.
On a side note, maybe an increase in fast-food prices will have the impact of fewer people eating there, thereby leading to layoffs of the newly unionized workers and a healthier nation.
One can only dream.
