Confronting the Myth that Low Wages Are Necessary for Profits in the Fast Food Business

[Amy SF]

Labor

AlterNet / By Steven Rosenfeld

Confronting the Myth that Low Wages Are Necessary for Profits in the Fast Food Business
Why In N Out Burger is far more attractive than McDonalds.

September 9, 2013 |

Editors note:This is the third in a series of reader-supported—i.e. crowdfunded —articles about the powerful National Restaurant Association and the plight of low-wage workers who are being screwed at every turn by industry lobbying tactics and misleading propaganda. An amazing 387 AlterNet readers contributed more than $5,500 to support this ongoing investigative project. Many of the donors are listed at the end of the article. Read part 1&2 of the series here and here.

The more you look at what it means to work in America’s restaurants—especially at the corporate-run chains—the less you will want to eat out.

The ongoing protests by fast-food workers for higher wages and paid sick days underscore the most visible problems. There’s also wage theft. There’s gender and racial harassment. There’s discrimination in pay and promotions. There’s slick public relations efforts that paper over this exploitation, with corporate lobbyists repeatedly telling politicians that they can’t pay workers more—while other executives tell Wall St. analysts about using their profits for stock-buybacks, expansion plans and shareholder dividends.

The nationwide fast food worker walkouts are highlighting and rejecting a predatory low-wage, low-benefit business model that’s all too common in service sector jobs. Ironically, some of the nation’s top business school professors say the restaurant industry’s scorched employee policies aren’t even the best way to build companies.

http://www.alternet.org/labor/confr...cessary-profits-fast-food-business?paging=off

Unfortunately In-And-Out doesn't have as many locations as the other fast food chains, and for us veg*ans, as far as I know (I've never eaten there), the only choice on the menu is a grilled cheese sandwich, which vegans won't eat anyway.

 

[Envy]

In-N-Out Burger has resisted franchising its operations or going public; one reason is the prospect of quality or customer consistency being compromised by excessively rapid business growth.

The In-N-Out restaurant chain has developed a highly loyal customer base, and has been rated as one of the top fast food restaurants in several customer satisfaction surveys.

I've seen a lot about them and Five Guys on the cooking board that I visit.

 

[Snowcone]

Back in the omni days, I found them vastly overrated.

 

[thefadedone]

I've seen a lot about them and Five Guys on the cooking board that I visit.

One of my family members eats at Five Guys at least twice a week and raves about them. They are crazy expensive imo ($5 for a burger, $3 for small fries), but I gotta give them credit for freshness. Nothing is prepared a head of time. Everything is made to order. You won't find *fries sitting under a heat lamp or rows of already prepared burgers waiting on an assembly line. They cut their own fries and never use frozen potatoes. They don't even have freezers. Plus their fries are cooked in peanut oil, are vegan and made from real potatoes.

*I have tried their fries and can confirm they are pretty damn tasty and impressive.

http://www.alternet.org/labor/confr...cessary-profits-fast-food-business?paging=off

Unfortunately In-And-Out doesn't have as many locations as the other fast food chains, and for us veg*ans, as far as I know (I've never eaten there), the only choice on the menu is a grilled cheese sandwich, which vegans won't eat anyway.

"In-n-Out, as its name notes, is a classic hamburger chain whose wrappers and cups cite biblical quotes."

I've never been to or even seen an In-n-Out restaurant, but even if they did offer vegan options I think the biblical quotes might deter me from going there.

I never want to work in the fast food industry. I give fast food employees a lot of credit for putting up with the **** that they have to deal with. It's sad that society looks down on fast food workers. The majority of people that belittle the employees and that have no respect for them wouldn't last a day in their shoes.

 

[rainforests1]

It's nice to see someone else uses alternet.org. They have a strong liberal bias, but their environmental section is very good.

The majority of people that belittle the employees and that have no respect for them wouldn't last a day in their shoes.

The work generally isn't physically demanding at all. When I used to go into restaurants before I was vegetarian, the workers didn't appear to be doing too much. I think most people would survive a day of that very easily.

 

[kazyeeqen]

The work generally isn't physically demanding at all. When I used to go into restaurants before I was vegetarian, the workers didn't appear to be doing too much. I think most people would survive a day of that very easily.

That's your evidence? The worker's didn't appear to be doing much when you went into restaurants? Doctor's don't appear to be doing much when I go in for my checkup, should I assume that the lives of all doctor's are cake walks? There are lots of ways jobs can be demanding, physically and psychologically.

 

[thefadedone]

It's nice to see someone else uses alternet.org. They have a strong liberal bias, but their environmental section is very good.

The work generally isn't physically demanding at all. When I used to go into restaurants before I was vegetarian, the workers didn't appear to be doing too much. I think most people would survive a day of that very easily.

You have obviously never worked in the fast food industry. I think if you worked a day at McDonalds during the lunch time rush you would quickly realize how physically demanding the job really is.

 

[Amy SF]

I imagine that in the back it's like a factory assembly line, preparing orders, especially, as faded said, during a lunch rush when the workers are inundated with orders.

In Michael Moore's first movie, Roger and Me, one of the scenes that stuck with me was when laid off auto factory workers in Flint went to work at the local fast food restaurants - and couldn't keep up with the more experienced workers there. These guys were used to working on an assembly line, but the pace at the FFR's was even faster than that.

 

[Amy SF]

Not to mention the fact that FFW's have to be on their feet for practically their entire shift. If you have a bad back or have major menstrual cramps or you're pregnant, at some point you're going to want to sit down, but when you have a ton of orders to deal with, you can't. It's not just young and generally healthy and athletic teenagers who work there anymore, it's older people who are working there to support themselves and their families. That's the point of the protests; the FFR's can afford to pay their workers a decent wage, and they don't.

 

[Forster]

Not to mention the fact that FFW's have to be on their feet for practically their entire shift. If you have a bad back or have major menstrual cramps or you're pregnant, at some point you're going to want to sit down, but when you have a ton of orders to deal with, you can't. It's not just young and generally healthy and athletic teenagers who work there anymore, it's older people who are working there to support themselves and their families. That's the point of the protests; the FFR's can afford to pay their workers a decent wage, and they don't.

How do you know they can afford to pay their workers a decent wage? Because someone said so? I don't think we can lump all minimum wage businesses or FFR's into the same category, some may be able to pay more others not so sure about. To me the real question is if we require higher minimum (livable) wages are we okay if it results in fewer jobs especially for teens and elderly who are may not need a livable wage because they live with their parents or have other sources of income (such as social security) that they are supplementing to get by? The bottom line is these jobs are being filled, if they weren't then the businesses would either have to pay more or if they can't go out of business.

Part of me feels bad for peeps stuck in minimum wage jobs but the other part of me wonders why they are stuck in minimum wage jobs.

 

[ledboots]

I worked at Wendys during a summer in college, and it is hard work. They expected the sandwich makers to assemble a burger in 5 seconds. Catsup, mustard, lettuce, tomato, pickles and dead cow patty on a bun and wrapped in the wrapper in 5 seconds. I worked the drive up wndow.

 

[Moll Flanders]

Not to mention the fact that FFW's have to be on their feet for practically their entire shift.

I have had friends who worked in McDonalds when we were students at uni and it is hard work. I worked in a shopping centre coffee shop once and serving food and kitchen work on a large scale is quite physically demanding.

 

[Amy SF]

How do you know they can afford to pay their workers a decent wage? Because someone said so? I don't think we can lump all minimum wage businesses or FFR's into the same category, some may be able to pay more others not so sure about. To me the real question is if we require higher minimum (livable) wages are we okay if it results in fewer jobs especially for teens and elderly who are may not need a livable wage because they live with their parents or have other sources of income (such as social security) that they are supplementing to get by? The bottom line is these jobs are being filled, if they weren't then the businesses would either have to pay more or if they can't go out of business.

Part of me feels bad for peeps stuck in minimum wage jobs but the other part of me wonders why they are stuck in minimum wage jobs.

It's not the small Mom-and-Pop businesses that these workers are protesting against. These are multinational corporations with thousands of locations all over the world raking in bucketloads of money from people who can't stay away. Many of their customers are regular customers who visit every single day, not just those who crave an occasional burger and fries. For decades the FFR's have depended on a cheap labor pool of teenagers and members of the working class who can't advance to the middle class and so depend on their FF jobs for income. The Fast Food industry has also replaced much of the traditional industry in the US. Auto factories, textile mills, and the like have closed down and reopened in other countries, where the workers can be nonunionized and exploited. The labor force of the FF industry is one of this industry's best kept secrets. They see no need to treat their workers fairly because there is still a (wrong) perception that it's still mostly teenagers who work there and they don't "need" a better wage. The fact that the industry markets heavily to young people bolsters this wrong perception.

 

[Forster]

It's not the small Mom-and-Pop businesses that these workers are protesting against. These are multinational corporations with thousands of locations all over the world raking in bucketloads of money from people who can't stay away. Many of their customers are regular customers who visit every single day, not just those who crave an occasional burger and fries. For decades the FFR's have depended on a cheap labor pool of teenagers and members of the working class who can't advance to the middle class and so depend on their FF jobs for income. The Fast Food industry has also replaced much of the traditional industry in the US. Auto factories, textile mills, and the like have closed down and reopened in other countries, where the workers can be nonunionized and exploited. The labor force of the FF industry is one of this industry's best kept secrets. They see no need to treat their workers fairly because there is still a (wrong) perception that it's still mostly teenagers who work there and they don't "need" a better wage. The fact that the industry markets heavily to young people bolsters this wrong perception.

Many of these multinational corporations don't own/operate the individual locations or pay the employees, they are owned/operated by franchisees (Mom and Pops). The franchisees face the same economic realities as any other Mom and Pop businesses, they are not all rolling in dough.

So my question remains, are we better in the long run enforcing "living" wages and causing the marginal businesses to fail or to just leave things be and let individuals sort this out for themselves? Personally I don't know the answer to that question.

 

[ledboots]

Personally I would rejoice if the Dollar Menu disappeared from these poison sellers. They can only afford to sell the crap food that cheaply because of the low wages of their workers.

 

[Clueless Git]

Higher bills mean less/no profit for business's?

In other news: Six is a bigger number than five.

 

[rainforests1]

That's your evidence? The worker's didn't appear to be doing much when you went into restaurants? Doctor's don't appear to be doing much when I go in for my checkup, should I assume that the lives of all doctor's are cake walks? There are lots of ways jobs can be demanding, physically and psychologically.

It's been pretty much the same experience in virtually every restaurant I've been to. We'd have to include cashiers into this as well. Doctors have a lot more knowledge than the average citizen, but I wouldn't say their job is physically demanding either. When I think of physically demanding jobs, I think of a job along the lines of a farm worker.

 

[rainforests1]

You have obviously never worked in the fast food industry. I think if you worked a day at McDonalds during the lunch time rush you would quickly realize how physically demanding the job really is.

You're just selectively picking a time period. There's 24 hours in a day, not 1-3 or whatever.

 

[yally]

If anyone can walk into a fast food restaurant and not see the work as physically demanding, they've clearly never spent 8+ hours on their feet.

MY job is physically demanding but I'm extremely glad I'm not on the other side of the counter every time I go to McDonalds (not often!) or Starbucks etc.

 

[kazyeeqen]

It's been pretty much the same experience in virtually every restaurant I've been to. We'd have to include cashiers into this as well. Doctors have a lot more knowledge than the average citizen, but I wouldn't say their job is physically demanding either. When I think of physically demanding jobs, I think of a job along the lines of a farm worker.

What I think you're saying is that you don't have any actual knowledge of what workers do all day at any job. What do you imagine a farm worker is doing that is so much more strenuous than someone one their feet, often with their head down and shoulders hunched (making sandwiches, for example), in the same position all day for 8 hours? Not only is that physically demanding, but it's damaging to the body. But I see your point, as a farm worker might be sitting in a combine all for for 12 hours (cause when the harvest is on, it's on) which is also quite damaging to the body, even if it does seem easier to sit than stand.

And we're not even talking about psychological cost.

There are more strenuous jobs than working at a fast food restaurant, but that doesn't meant the job is not physically demanding. It doesn't have to be the worst job in the world for people to get treated fairly for doing it.

And your evidence still really sucks. 'Virtually every restaurant' you've been to? That means nothing to me.