Can fast food afford the cost?
By: DENNIS W. PARKS
Staff Writer
Ray Kroc convinced the McDonald brothers that franchising their restaurant would be a good idea and teenagers have been working in the fast food industry, ever since. Serving customers and flipping burgers can be a good way to make a few bucks and acquiring a little bit of disposable income one would not have otherwise and learning a bit of responsibility. But nobody said that same job would support an adult, much less a family, even though many Americans are trying to do just that.The worker should learn to live on their wage, rather than attempt to force an industry to pay for their mistakes and limited abilities? In addition to various factions insisting on an increase in the minimum wage, multiple organizations are working toward unionizing the fast food industry in an attempt to raise wages for fast food workers.
At minimum wage (currently at $7.35 per hour in Missouri) according to Department of Labor & Industrial Relations, the annual salary of a fast food worker before taxes is $15,288, based upon a work week for 52 weeks. Most of those employees will rarely, if ever realize that full-time status. Some good news is that “The Department has announced that the state minimum wage for 2014 will be $7.50/hr and will go into effect January 1, 2014.” Jobs are tough to find and supporting a family is a noble cause, but if current skills limit a person’s potential to part-time work or minimum wage, continuing with higher education to gain marketable skills should be a priority. Help wanted signs for fast food workers never offer great pay and excellent benefits when compared to full-time jobs. For these very reasons, few workers outside of management consider working in a fast food restaurant as a long-term career.
During this current economic downturn, fast food restaurants are sometimes the only opportunities for employment, especially for those without a college degree. At least most restaurant managers are willing to help their employees work around class schedules, while many employers simply cannot provide that flexibility. Flipping burgers or bending taco shells most likely will not allow anyone to retire, but it can go a long way toward paying for tuition and books if managed correctly. It is much better to struggle through the college years while acquiring a degree, than to give up and try to live without one.
Organizers of the Service Employees International Union are pushing for unionization of employees of McDonald’s, Hardees, and other fast food restaurants in order to provide better compensation. But, where will the additional payroll come from? As most fast food restaurants are owned by franchisees that are already facing slim profit margins, any additional overhead such as higher wages will force an increase in menu prices. Higher consumer prices typically result in a loss in sales which translates to someone losing their job. Several fast food restaurant locations, including McDonald and Sonic DriveIn in the St. Louis area have completely gone out of business within the last few years.
Additionally, belonging to a union has requirements of its own: Initiation fees, union dues or union meetings. Initiation fees, merely a one time charge, are often roughly a month’s pay. Union dues are usually deducted from paychecks monthly by the employer, so that money is not seen by the employee anyway. Missing monthly union meetings usually carries a financial penalty of some sort.
In the grand scheme of the fast food industry, workers usually do two things; work the counter or the grill. Counter workers take orders from customers, collect payment and make change for that order, and present that order to the customer within a reasonable amount of time. Grill workers prepare the food according to customer requests. Is the customer’s order always correct? While it may be hectic at times, fast food work does not require advanced skills, yet, union organizers and workers are hoping for pay of $15.00 per hour. Fast food workers may be trying to keep up with auto workers, and we know where most of them are now.unemployed.
Some may believe that fast food restaurants will always be in business, and perhaps they will. But, there was a time when Detroit never thought their automotive plants and unskilled labor would sit idle.
