Wave of fast food strikes hits 50 cities

[streetcry]

Workers are protesting about pay and want their hourly rate to rise to $15 from around $9.


[h=2]Fast food workers in 50 cities across the U.S. are walking off the job Thursday as they protest for higher wages.[/h] Organizers say it will be the largest strike to hit the $200 billion fast-food industry.

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Workers from fast food giants McDonald's (MCD, Fortune 500), Burger King (BKW) Wendy's (WEN) and Yum Brands (YUM, Fortune 500)-owned KFC are calling on their employers to pay them a minimum of $15 an hour and allow them to form unions without retaliation.


Currently, the median pay for the fast food workers across the country is just over $9 an hour, or about $18,500 a year. That's roughly $4,500 lower than Census Bureau's poverty income threshold level of $23,000 for a family of four.


Strikes are planned in Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Memphis, New York and dozens of other cities.


Related: Worker wages: Wendy's vs. Wal-Mart vs. Costco
The campaign, organized by a coalition of labor, community and clergy groups called Fast Food Forward, has been building momentum since last November, when the protests first hit the national spotlight.


Organizers say retail workers from stores such as Macy's (M, Fortune 500), Sears (SHLD, Fortune 500), Walgreens (WAG, Fortune 500) and L Brands' (LTD, Fortune 500) Victoria's Secret will also go on strike Thursday in some cities.

 

[streetcry]

Latoya Jemes, who's been working at a Memphis McDonald's for the past year, said she plans to join the protests.


She makes $7.45 an hour, and has to work overnights because she can't afford childcare during the day. Her mother watches her children during the night.


"I'm a single parent of three, and I'm living check to check," said Jemes, 24. "I only have enough to pay my rent, and I might be able to squeeze out the things that my kids need, but I'm not making enough."


The protests have caught the attention of the White House. Earlier this summer, the "low-wage worker" protests were mentioned in a blog post written by National Economic Council director Gene Sperling and former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers Alan Krueger. They said that raising the minimum wage was part of President Obama's economic vision.

--CNNMoney's Emily Jane Fox contributed to this report.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/08/29/news/fast-food-strikes/index.html?iid=HP_LN

 

[Poomer]

They get 9USD and they go on strike, Macdonalds is paying something like 6SGD here, and what is NTUC doing?

Telling us to stay competitive. :kma:

 

[scbccb]

I think it's lower than SGD6.

They get 9USD and they go on strike, Macdonalds is paying something like 6SGD here, and what is NTUC doing?

Telling us to stay competitive. :kma:

 

[Cestbon]

SG even worst Average fast food worker SG$5~$6/hour.
Everything in SG is more expensive than USA from house,car,fuel,clothes.......

 

[Agoraphobic]

It is a good sign for the human race that people at the lower spectrum of the economic ladder start taking things into their own hands. Waiting for those at the top to do so will only result in more waiting. Some corporate CEOs make sinful amounts for doing fuckall whilst the labourers toil long hours.

Cheers!

 

[Einfield]

NTUC will tell you the tripatide shit is working well for the past 50 years to promote employer employee harmonious environment.
It is achieve by sending any one who dare to strike to jail. Unions on the other hand can be a real ass too, just look at how they bankrupt Detroit.

A fair wage that enable someone to survive base on the country's cost of living and inflation should be a good starting point.

 

[Scrooball (clone)]

What will Lim Shit Say have to say? Cheaper faster better again?

 

[tonychat]

that is what happen when people work in a place which sells meat..

vegetarian food seller are happy and financially stable people.

 

[johnny333]

SG even worst Average fast food worker SG$5~$6/hour.
Everything in SG is more expensive than USA from house,car,fuel,clothes.......

You are forgetting that Spore has the most expensive gov't in the world. Many of the PAP MPs are making more than the Prez of the USA .

 

[Scrooball (clone)]

that is what happen when people work in a place which sells meat..

vegetarian food seller are happy and financially stable people.

Do u read the news? Are vegetable sellers in China happy and financially stable?

 

[Leongsam]

$15 per hour for flipping burgers? You have to be kidding.

A trained monkey can do the job.

 

[watchman8]

$15 per hour for flipping burgers? You have to be kidding.

A trained monkey can do the job.

Agree with you absolutely. Though would you dare to eat burgers made by trained monkeys?

What about jobs like shaking hands all day long? Orang utan can do it, and no training needed. $1.5 mil per annum is ok?

 

[TopSage]

They get 9USD and they go on strike, Macdonalds is paying something like 6SGD here, and what is NTUC doing?

Telling us to stay competitive. :kma:

I think it is between $5-$6. Years ago when I work it was $5 nothing much has changed. But cost of living keeps rising.

When Obama entered office he tried to push up mini mun wages after fighting the Republicans who claimed that higher wages will cause unemployment, he managed to get it back u to US$7.25 ...raising mnimum wages did not cause the US economy to falter. Neither did it cause unemployment in Hong Kong. The reason why this is so is because due to severe inequality in these countries wa. s of low income groups collectively form the smallest slice of GDP in history of last 80 yrs. Therein lies the flaw in PAP resistance to having minimum wages and wage intervention- delaying such corrective actions can prove to be a fatal error in a highly unequal society ....and it is based on unsound economics to hold out against minimum wage and wage intervention. Professor Lim Chong Yah shock therapy was prescribed with a historic perspective that prolonged inequality will incentivise workers to alter the power structure by unionisation or the ballot box to force change towards a fairer society.

While Obama appreciated the need for change, he was slowed by Washington politics. Now fast food workers representing a large segment of low wage workers have gone on strike demanding minimum wage to be pushed up to US$15 per hour.

In singapore strikes are illegal and unbalanced power structure has led to policies bias towards GDP growth and business profits. I was unfortunate to end up working in a fast food joint after I was reject entry into the university- the pap prefer to educate children of foreign er rather than give the chance to a Singaporean who has served NS. Back then the wages in fast food was S$5 per hour, I dont think it is much highee today even as the cost of living rises. Singapore has a third world wage structure and ourlow wage workers are the most poorly paid in the developed world due to lopsided pap policies.

Because pap suppresses industrial action as well as freedom of expressiin, the outward sign of unhappiness gets suppressed. There is no reason for wages earners jn singapore to be less unhappy or less outraged than the fast food workers in US that have gone on strike - their wages is somethng like
80 to 100% higher than in Singapore and the cost of living is lower in most part of USA compared with singapore. The pap system has resulted in a highly unequal and unfair system where those in power are paid excessivel high wages along side executives of companies to which givt is linked (GLCs).... they maintain this system by suppressing opponents and control of the mainstream media...using fear as a tool aginst the ordinary people. The struggling masses are left with only one card to play and it is a risky hand called GE2016

 

[Kenneth]

I think it is between $5-$6. Years ago when I work it was $5 nothing much has changed. But cost of living keeps rising.

U are in CNA & sgfuck for almost 16hrs a day since 2008, now u say u working at Mac yrs ago

 

[TopSage]

U are in CNA & sgfuck for almost 16hrs a day since 2008, now u say u working at Mac yrs ago

Yrs ago I worked in fast food. Years ago, your mother gave birth to you. I did not say I work in McDonald's don't you know there are other fast food restaurant. What is the problem?

 

[Kenneth]

Yrs ago I worked in fast food. Years ago, your mother gave birth to you. I did not say I work in McDonald's don't you know there are other fast food restaurant. What is the problem?

Haha, try to twist n turn yours words again, Poomer is talking about Mac pay n you replied to his post.

 

[TopSage]

Haha, try to twist n turn yours words again, Poomer is talking about Mac pay n you replied to his post.

He is talking about fast food using Mac as an example UNDERSTAND.

What is your problem?

 

[Leongsam]

Agree with you absolutely. Though would you dare to eat burgers made by trained monkeys?

There are many humans who are filthier than monkeys.

 

[Kenneth]

He is talking about fast food using Mac as an example UNDERSTAND.

What is your problem?

He is talking MAC, and your replied is related to MAC, if not u will mention it clearly. U are slapping yourself hard with your own lies.