From Rick Moran writing at PJ Media:
Burger Flippers of the World, Unite! The Drive to Unionize Fast-Food Workers
I begrudge no one their right to organize and join a union if they so choose. But these poor schlubs are being led down a primrose path to unemployment if they think that a burger or pizza joint can stay in business long if the workers are earning $15 an hour.
New York Times:I don't envy people who work in fast-food restaurants, but neither do I feel sorry for them. Life is full of choices. Nobody is forcing anyone to work at McDonald's. If you want something better, you have to better yourself. You have to better your skills to make yourself more employable in higher-paying, higher-skilled positions.Fast-food workers at several restaurants in New York walked off the job on Thursday, firing the first salvo in what workplace experts say is the biggest effort to unionize fast-food workers ever undertaken in the United States.
The campaign - backed by community and civil rights groups, religious leaders and a labor union - has engaged 40 full-time organizers in recent months to enlist workers at McDonald's, Wendy's, Domino's, Taco Bell and other fast-food restaurants across the city.
Leaders of the effort said that workers were walking off the job to protest what they said were low wages and retaliation against several workers who have backed the unionization campaign. They said it would be the first multi-restaurant strike by fast-food workers in American history, although it was unclear how many workers would walk off the job.
Unless you're an actor:Au contraire, Mr. Lopez. You get paid exactly for what you do - a job that any 15 year old can perform with three days training. If you can organize a union under the trying circumstances of massive turnover and generally apathetic workers, I wish you the best.Raymond Lopez, 21, an aspiring actor who has worked at the McDonald's for more than two years, showed up on his day off to protest. "In this job having a union would really be a dream come true," said Mr. Lopez, who added that he makes $8.75 an hour. He said that he, and fellow fast-food workers, were under-compensated. "We don't get paid for what we do," he said. "It really is living in poverty."
Mr. Lopez needs to realize that actions have consequences and his "living in poverty" is entirely his own choice and decision. There are plenty of trade colleges out there and there is plenty of demand for good diesel mechanics, welders, plumbers, electricians, etc... Rather than go into hock for some liberal arts education, Mr. Lopez needs to man up and make something of himself. Acting is a hobby, not a lifestyle -- for every successful actor out there, there are tens of thousands of actors who have "real jobs".
Rick drives home the obvious with this paragraph:
What would a Big Mac cost if the workers were earning $15 an hour with union health care and other benefits? No doubt there are regional variations in price, but in my neck of the woods, a Big Mac is $3.79 and a Whopper is $4.89. So figure a $7 Big Mac and $8 Whopper if workers at my local burger joints unionize. At those prices, I'd go to a nice sit-down restaurant and get decent service. And I doubt that too many harried working mothers would spend $25-$30 a few times a month taking their kids out for a fast-food treat.
I do the Monday buying runs for my store and the third stop of the morning is at WalMart. There is a McDonalds there and I like their french fries so I usually get a medium fries and medium coke to munch on while shopping. It's $3.14 and if it went up to $5, I would stop buying them.
Unions had their day -- now all it is is a collection of power, using the Union dues to effect political change for the benefit of the Union. They have no reason to exist -- their original reason for existence has faded into the past.
Be sure to read the comments -- a lot of stories out there...
