The image below was shared by the Fight for $15, a campaign that targets to raise support for a minimum wage of $15 per hour. This is in comparison to the current figure of a measly $7.25 per hour.
The accompanying text reads, “In case anyone was wondering what full-time wage at McDonald’s are like for a full year, this is it. It’s worth adding that the average cost of a 1-bedroom apartment in the U.S. is $8,993.64 – $11,410.92, or up to 82% of this entire year of work.”
Cost of living is continuously rising and those who are forced to work for minimum wage as their main income source are facing a really tough time.
The pay gap between the CEO and other high flying managers versus the minimum wage earners is unbelievably high and it forces us to think about whether it can really be justified.
After McDonald’s fired previous CEO Don Thompson, they had proceeded to gave him $3 million dollars to “consult” for them for a year. Do the math and you will see that for an average fry cook employed by the same company, it would take him/her 6,631 hours to make what Thompson will be paid for one week of “consulting”.
The company’s longstanding practice of using franchise agreements to limit corporate liability for labor violations at specific stores appears to be crumbling in the face of multiple lawsuits in America. Unions are asking the European Commission to investigate the company’s use of a tax haven in Luxembourg to allegedly deprive various European governments of a billion euros’ worth of tax payments in recent years. And in Brazil, the company may face massive fines stemming from a union lawsuit against the company’s largest franchisee over serious alleged violations of the country’s strong legal protections for workers. [1]
Fortunately, the campaign to raise minimum wage is garnering more support from cities and states, if not at a federal level.
• San Francisco has agreed to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2018
• Oakland backed a measure to raise it to $12.25.
• Seattle approved a minimum wage hike to $15 by 2021.
• Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska and South Dakota have all approved proposals to raise the minimum wage in November
The above-mentioned states along with Washington DC and 12 others, have all moved to raise minimum wage in November.
The situation seems to be gradually improving and we can see that exploitative employers are being pushed back.
In the end, what it comes down to, is that if a company is making millions of dollars and earning good profits it needs to ensure that the society, and particularly its own employees, receives a fair proportion of the cash as well.
So what happens to those who get a degree and pay off $80k in student loans. I have been working in IT field since I was a kid and it keeps getting lower and lower on pay. Seen people around me making $14hr while dealing with millions of dollars in secure transmissions daily. Do you honestly think companies will give them raises also to compensate for those who never tried to challenge them self and get a degree? I honestly hope it does not pass to $15hr. Maybe have a company give them opportunity to succeed in life like tuition reimbursement.
I see that your “degree” taught you very poorly, as your spelling and grammar is horrendous. Perhaps you should look into getting more education?
ummm, what did he spell wrong? Also, I’m pretty sure this isn’t a resume or corporate document or some sort of million dollar presentation. Who cares if he spelled a word wrong. It’s the Internet, u n00b!
I also work in IT, 27years old earning about 75k a year. If your still making $14 an hour and have done this since your where a kid your either at a shit company and should move on, or your not really very good at your job.
The way i choose to look at this is that a higher minimum wage will mean less people feeling pressured to study after school.
In the long run this means less people qualified to do the work we do. In the long run it will bounce back.
What about this, if you raise minimum wage to 15$ how much is a gallon of milk, a gallon of gas, or a pair of Levi’s going to cost. Minimum wage is a starting point for people. Like teenage kids in highschool trying to make a few bucks to buy some beer and go fishing.
The minimum wage was implemented to be a QUOTE
LIVING WAGE
Its not. Theres 2 primary reasons.
1.) The federal reserve constantly deflates the value of our dollar.
2.) Rich fucks buy our government to stagnate it, spending literally millions every single year on making sure they dont have to pay workers more; because its cheaper to buy politicians than pay workers.
The true root of the problem is that, during the early 1970’s, the Liberal Left progressives created an agency that quickly became a menace to our industries, to ‘save the environment’. The early rules were okay, but at the same time our Congress was just as inept as the ones we have now failing to perform the cleanup of existing laws prior to passing new legislation. Over that period of time the agencies became little entities of there own, unilaterally passing laws, killing our steel industry, killing all of our blue collar work, that gave skills to those who did not or could not go to college. Now there is nothing. IT came around and many of us were self taught and took opportunities when they presented themselves and truly busted our tails to get here, all the while struggling just like everyone else under the draconian taxation, that funds and feeds the greed and mismanagement in DC… No we essentially are run by the same idiots regardless of policy, and are bought off by greed. the last economic collapse, created a situation that made it worse along with the sunsetting of some banking regulation… We got bilked again by the banks and the banks will never pay it back… The greed in DC is now the hugest danger in this country, that along side with the ‘career politician’…. They now refuse to represent and clearly do not respect their oaths of office. my point being… you want change? stop electing the corrupt idiots back into office. vote for a third party Libertarian or at least a candidate that supports our constitution, that will hold this govt, Congress and Senate to account… we need to make all lobbying illegal, and make it a crime penalized very very harshly if you want to see this country turn around. If you don’t? then get ready, because we are well down the path towards bullets flying. think I am wrong? crack a book and read about why the French revolution! and what happened to those corrupt fat cats… history, in many ways and on many different accounts of history are all coming together at the same time… it will get ugly….. and they know it…
Opportunities are there. one must seek them out and or create them to succeed… or don’t… but understand the road is only going to get tougher if we do not do our due diligence to elect proper moral, honest law abiding citizens that honor the true nature of the jobs and seats they are elected to…. History is repleat with what happens… and it is not going to be pleasant..
not raising minimum wage will challenge me to pay people the least amount i possibly can, so that i can turn huge profits. And when i become successful, i will talk down on people who do not “challenge themselves” to pay people the least amount they can so that they too, can turn huge profits. Once ive created a world wide infrastructure to distribute hamburgers, i can rule over the masses with the wealth that ive built off cheap labor. Then when the workers demand what they feel is their fair share, i’ll convince them that i deserve all the profits, because i can easily find some1 else more desperate for money to sell my hamburgers. I’ll constantly remind them that they failed in life because they work for me and did not “better themselves” when they had the chance. Hopefully people will forget how to raise livestock and grow other food, so that they will become dependent on my hamburgers, and i can keep them in perpetual poverty, and secure my position as a ruling class member. Because the more people i keep in this cycle of “self- inflicted” poverty, the less competition i will have as a person securing wealth.
I hope they dont raise minimum wage because it would ruin my master plan.
You wanna double your wage? Wow. You work at mcdonalds, you do a job that anyone can do and you want to get paid like a construction worker with years of experience? Damn. I worked at a fastfood chain and made a lousy 6000 € in 9 months. I quit for a better job. I never expected more cause I knew it was a no skill job with employees coming and going.
If you think it is a no skill job, how about you go make your lazy ass your own food instead of buying it from a fast food worker with “no skill”? These workers put up with way more crap than any other job (anything in customer service does). Putting up with rude people like you takes quite a bit of skill.
srsly so if that job is so shitty go and find another one if u are so skilleed
Seriously? A trained monkey could flip burgers and take orders. If you really feel like you are getting screwed then quit. Find another job. If there were anyone with a entitlement to bitch about underpayment check out the automotive industry. We are shit on daily I mean that in both terms. We are subjected to some of the most extreme temps. Hot 100+F and Cold 10-F. We work 10-16hr days standing for 98% of that. Everything is a minimal of about 50lbs and as much as 200+. We are covered in petroleum byproducts and solvents everyday. We get broken bones, Concussions , Busted knuckles, Cuts and scrapes daily, Some of us even get killed doing this job. We hurt everyday from all of these injuries old and new. WE even have to supply our own tools and spend thousands in training which can total up to more than a mansion. We deal with the public everyday and Yet most of us make just over minimum wage. Now if any of you cry bitches want to complain about “how hard your climate controlled Mcjob is” and how YOU DESERVE to make $15.00 an hour or better to do a simple job as flip a burger and take a food order. I suggest you get a reality check because apparently the first one bounced. Then if you are still having problems seeing things clearly and just where you stand on the totem pole of your usefulness to society I would strongly suggest you have your have your head examined because there is something missing or seriously wrong with you if you can’t understand that working for a fast food joint is a teenagers job in the first place.. Seriously who wants to make a career out of flipping burgers. Secondly, What any of you don’t seem to realize is that raising minimum wage does absolutely nothing but make things worse for everyone. Here’s why————-
When minimum wage is increased the cost of goods and services increase also. Reason being lets say that Farmer John is growing his crops to be sold to Walmart. Last year he paid $1.00 per pound of fertilizer and sold his crops for $5.00 per lb. Now the company that makes the same fertilizer he bought last year is now charging $2.00 per lb. due to having to pay their employees double what it was last year well now he has to charge at least $10.00 per lb. to offset what it cost him. Now lets say he gets hurt and can’t do the job himself for the year. Now he has to hire someone so instead of selling his crops for $10.00 per lb. now he has to sell them for $20.00 or more per lb. Walmart buys them for $5.00 per lb. last year and sells them for $7.00 per lb. well this now that they have to pay their employees more and farmer John more. Now the prices are 3x what they were the previous year which now costs YOU the end user 3x more and everything is still the same as it was before the increase.
Not only will prices of everything increase it will also force most if not all small business’s to close the doors and the loss of available jobs due to the fact that they can’t afford to pay anyone at that rate nor can they afford to pay the outrageous prices for the goods they need to run their business… Which = less jobs, less ma and pops stores run by regular people like you and me, less opportunities and less money flowing into the system to create these high paying jobs we all want. What this will do is help create the even larger scale corporatocracy we are slowly becoming and put even more wealth in the hands of the privileged few and less in the hands of many. Yes I agree things have gotten far too expensive but we all need to go about this a different way…
And once all the small businesses have gone, they will announce that the minimum wage hike had been a disaster and drop it back. Leaving only the bigger corporations, and everyone else on the bones of their arse.
You’re an idiot, it is a skill learned in a matter of hours, even mentally handicapped people do it, it is the bottom of the ladder in jobs, you show up, and throw some patties on the cooker and some fries in the oil and set a timer and you’re done, cut and dry job, the only reason people even buy fast food is because it’s quick and convenient for people who are working much harder and more intelligible jobs who make it home at night just in time to set their alarm and pass out and wake up to work all day in a job that actually matters
Its nothing to do with the capability of the job the pay is a rental of time for a human being weather you have gone to university or not,
If someone has contracted themselves to work full time then that pay should at least be a high enough amount to live without being left unable to pay rent an underfed, you also fail to think that not everyone is lucky enough to pay for university,
Sorry this was a reply to rangerdanger not yourself,
My touch screen on my tablet had a bit of a fit lol
That’s great. That way the government takes the freedom of an army of slaves who can’t make it without help for food, lodging and health insurance. Making it appealing for the poor’s kids to go join the US military to go fight for freedom, ( to liberate oil), by killing a bunch of other poor people’s kids abroad.
BRAVO.
I don’t understand what you are saying here. Are you saying that the money should be spent on old people who are ready to die any minute and paying rent for some old grandma who is going to die any day now and paying rent there than for someone young and in need of lodging for many years to come?
Jokes, You’re an IDIOT, you are talking about the elderly like they shouldn’t exist at all. Karma is a bitch and someday you will be old (if you should be so luck to live that long) and you won’t feel the elderly are worthless. Not to mention your comment about the elderly is cold and heartless, which is indicative of the kind of person you are!!!
This will not fix the problem. If you are unhappy that McDonald’s is making a killing then stop working for them. Go work for a local company and let shut them down. Stop going to McDonald’s, and stop working there. This along with Walmart and many other fast food chains. Want to make a difference then do it… Raising min wage will only shut down more local businesses and force more large chains into there place creating a cycle that you will all continue to complain about. This is not going to help. If this truly is Anonymous I beg of you to rethink this post and write some thing that will help the world. I constantly have been changing my life style to not support large “Empires” and live a life style me children and there children will be proud of. This article is only promoting uneducated people with no motivation in life to stay put. Upping minimum wage is only going to force us into “empire” dependency.
A lot of local businesses are more picky with their hiring process. People with records who are trying to get their lives straightened around, or people looking to just get a job for right now and know they can get one at McDonald’s no questions asked, or former addicts who haven’t had a job for years to put on a resume (these are just a few examples) all deserve a second chance and if they are trying to get their life on track, good for them. Some people cannot be picky about where they work. And people who make this low of money can’t afford the prices of local businesses, who cannot compete with Wal-Mart’s pricing, as they get it at a deeply discounted price from manufacturers. In an ideal world, there would only be local businesses. But welcome to the 21st century, grandpa/grandma.
Wah Wah Wah, shut your damn mouths and just do your damn job!!! You actually only make a little less then me and I make $10.00 an hour and have to pay for insurance for my family. Last year I brought home a little over $14,000. So before you start asking for more money then you deserve an hour, try thinking about possibly getting an order right and fixing it without an attitude.
Thank you lucky stars you even have a job, you could be homeless and living on the streets!!!
You think they don’t deserve more than $7.50/hr? You think that 82% of their income should be going to rent?? How is that having an attitude? You sitting behind your keyboard typing anonymously shows what kind of attitude you have. I bet your job requires you to sit on your fat ass doing nothing. These workers have to put up with customers like you, feeling like they are entitled and that McDonald’s workers are their slaves and have a “the customer is always right, no matter what” mentality. Good for you, making $10/hr. What is your job?
Do you realize that a McDonald’s job is for kids in high school not supposed to be a life long career like people make of it. Military members make ways less on the hour if you take the amount of hours they work and the pay They get. Go back to school or do something to male yourself better stop trying to ask for a handout. I’ve worked on public services and yeah you get idiots that come through but hey that’s why it isn’t a career. You shouldn’t even be on your computer since you can’t pay your rent you should have been able to get a computer either. Or a phone or anything minimum wage is based so someone can live with only the very minimum so that’s water electric and a roof over your head . Nothing extra if you expect to make a living somewhere like McDonald’s then your most likely a lazy bum that doesnot want to grow up.
Actually you ignorant fool, I owned my own business for 12 years until Obama deflated our economy and there was no way to salvage a small business. I took a job making less so I felt like I was contributing to my family. Truthfully, I do not even have to work, my husband is a pilot and take very very good care of us. I choose to work to be a productive member of society. I have worked my time in fast food, it is not meant to be a permanent position by any means, it is only meant to be a stepping stone for a teenager. Stop being such a bitter shell of a person and open your eyes and see that raising the minimum wage to $15 would absolutely kill our economy.
These kind of jobs are not meant to be career type jobs unless you plan on becoming a manager. They are starter jobs, mostly for kids in high school, college students and others in need of temporary jobs.
This is not a 15$ an hour job, I worked at McDonalds for two years during and right after high school, there is no way in hell that any team member who is not a manager should be making 15$ an hour or near that. In certain areas and states, I see that as a possibility based on the cost of living, if one does their proper research there are many places that rent for 300$ or less a month, most people are just too lazy to find these places.
90% of the time managers and team members act like idiots when a customer gets upset if there order is wrong, millennialist individuals nowadays think the customer doesn’t matter and they are protected by some imaginary law. I had one incredible manager who stood up for me on a serious occasion because a customer had ordered a Big Mac, they didn’t specify not wanting pickles and onions, so when she brought it back, I told her that she hadn’t specified but I would fix it and she started freaking out in front of a lunch crowded lobby, she said I should get fired and that my hair being long meant I was uneducated and I should live in the dump… Long story short, the police got called… Anyway, I’m telling anyone and everyone, that fast food is not a considerable job for life and if you think so, then something is wrong with you, it requires no education, no knowledge, and is considered a limited skill job. Sure, if you need some money I’d recommend working there but start looking for something more career worthy while you’re working, there are literally thousands of jobs in every area or nearby, but people are in general lazy and don’t want to pursue something better, so they demand that minimum wage be raised on a limited skill job, that really only lazy people pay to keep going.
We need the raise in minimal wage now, not in 3 – 6 years… By thattimewe will have to raise it again
The numbers don’t quite add up, 36 hours a week, x 52 weeks @ 8.75 ph = $16380 so this person hasn’t worked a full year, while that isnt a whole lot of money skewing the numbers to look worse is just like lying. 36 hours may be technically full time, but this person should be either working more hours or spending that free time looking for a better job or seeking training that would advance their position. I work 50 + per week and still have time.
I live in Alabama and I’m contracted to an extremely large
corporation. I only make $7.40 per hour. They can’t expect anyone to make it on the wage. My taxable income for 214 was a little over $12,000
At $15 an hour you are going to get folks with college education getting those jobs and the “poor” minimum wage earner will have no job. I know that many entry level jobs for recent college grads don’t pay as well as that. Also if they get a raise I want one too, if they get more money my wages are now degraded because the gap between what I make and what they make is smaller. I have worked many (30+) years to get to where I am now and just because uneducated and non skilled workers have flooded the market why should my family suffer?
Minimum wage is there to crucify small businesses to the benefit of corporations. But if you tell the lowest earning masses they will get more money they will start to demand it. Cost of living is too high, not wages too low.
Stop trying to raise minimum wage! I work at McDonald’s too as well as Kmart and frankly every time it goes up I get screwed. Why? Because I’ve been working at McDonalds for over ten years and McDonalds won’t pay their managers or crew trainers or veteran workers more when they have to pay the noob high schoolers 15 bucks an hour. Why the hell should trainees get the same as someone who’s been there for ten years? Stop fucking with this system, you’re only hurting everyone and not helping anyone. Every time it goes up it counts as our raise for the year and because of it, managers with ten+ years there are still in the single digits. Yes, McDonalds can afford to pay their employees more, but if you make the minimum 15, theyre just gonna pay everyone the same regardless of position or time spent there. On top of that, they’ll fire half their staff. You really think the ceos are gonna pay for it out of pocket? Hell no. Furthermore the cost of living skyrockets every time the minimum goes up. You’re literally shooting yourself in the foot, and you’re going to hurt everyone with this bullshit. You wanna help? Fight to get veteran employees higher pay. Same with managers and crew trainers. The noobs have no right to make the same amount because they don’t do the same amount of work.
Also, fuck everyone who posts that “you work at McDonalds and thus don’t deserve decent pay” shit. The trainees should get paid less, but the managers work very hard there and if you’ve stuck it out at a job long enough, regardless of what it is, you should get decent pay. However, you shouldn’t get 15 an hour for doing the bare minimal. That’s not fair to anyone.
you work at McDonalds and thus don’t deserve decent pay
Shots fired.
If they would hire people with 15 an hour then I’d consider being for it but the retarded idiots they got working at fat food place deserve less than minimum wage for the shitty jobs they do
In the UK McDonald’s workers are the lowest paid group and over 60% become depressed, they make £6.50 per hour and are on 0 hour contracts.
If McDonalds workers push their pay over minimum wage they will just be replaced by a teller type machine that does already exist and lose the job all together
Those who are too lazy or stupid to succeed and excel in this world look around and see hardworking people”having things”, and think they’re entitled to a handout, Bulls%&t, I’ve been working my ass off my entire life and I don’t bring home $15 an hour, No No No, these lazy ass people haven’t earned it, they don’t deserve it
Want to earn well while working at McDonald’s? Move to Australia and earn $40,000 a year flipping patties or operating the till
cmon guys McDonald employes in my country get 73CZK/hour its about 3 dollars per hour and dont think not all jobs in there are so shitty paid btw im from Czech its in the middle of Europe
Or you can get off your lazy fat ass and get a real fucking job. I bring home 25k a year and I’m in the military. Stop fucking bitching and do something besides a high schoolers hob. Dumb ass mother fucker
wow….I feel for you all…in Australia a dole bludging bum gets over 16,000 doing nothing …unskilled migrants receive 56,000 on 457 visa…average Australian receives 35,000…..come over and rape our economy like every nation is enjoying doing….you even get a house …
First fast food joints are for school kids and nothing more. They can’t even get the order right. They can’t even great the consumers. It’s a joke. You can’t support a family on fast food wages. It is meant for students. But anyways if they did get 15 an hr. How long would they have the job. Do you think we will pay 12 bucks for a combo meal ? Not a chance. But hey go for it. Your will be out of work in less then a month.
The only proper minimum wage is 0. I’ve been self employed for 8 years and if I don’t pay my employees right they quit which creates competition and in return higher wages. A person should only be paid the amount of which they are willing to accept to perform the task.
McDonald jobs are meant for the very young and very old. Kids right out of high school as first time jobs and elderly that just want to make a little extra money not as a fricken career wake up people