Entitlement: Fast food workers demand $15 per hour

Class warfare. Socialism. You’re watching it develop and take root all around us. In New York City, where some fast food employees are making minimum wage ($7.25 per hour in New York), some of them are demanding wage rates double to $15 per hour.

Oh. My. Heaven. Please read and share.

Workers at some fast food restaurants in the New York City area walked off the job on Thursday.

A large group gathered outside a McDonald’s on Madison and 40th St. in Manhattan demanding higher wages and the approval of a workers union.

“They’re giving us $7.25 an hour, so many of my co-workers are living on food stamps. You can’t live on that in this city,” a protester told Good Day NY.

The workers who say they don’t make enough to put food on the table for their families would  like an increase in their hourly pay to $15.

They would “like” an increase? They don’t make enough to put food on the table? Why pick a completely arbitrary number of $15 per hour? Why not $25 or $50 an hour?

Simple economic talking points to share. If the fast food chain owners greatly increases their payroll costs, what would happen?

  • Prices of food would go up.
  • Fewer customers would come in to the store to buy food since it is more expensive than they are willing to pay.
  • Employee benefits would decrease. Some employees who have a modest health plan would loose all or part of their benefit packages. No more free fries.
  • Lower performing employees would be laid off in favor of employees who are more productive during their shift.
  • Good managers would leave the company since their salaries would probably have to decrease to cover the higher wages of employees.
  • Store owners would sell or close their fast food joint looking for a better return on their investment.
  • The value of fast food company stock would lower since profits – if they existed – would be lower.

But at least those complaining would win their argument, and a few of them might be lucky enough to have that prized $15 per hour salary for a week or so. I have to ask if we have a mental disconnect here. Employees asking for a 100% raise? Do they not see the implications? I really think this is the result of 50-plus years of brainwashing as we come closer to the peak of the entitlement society. This is class warfare, pure and simple. Who is John Gault?

Without further adieu, I introduce you to the Jean-Luc Picard Facepalm.

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Steve McGough

Steve's a part-time conservative blogger. Steve grew up in Connecticut and has lived in Washington, D.C. and the Bahamas. He resides in Connecticut, where he’s comfortable six months of the year.

8 Comments

  1. Shock and Awe on November 30, 2012 at 10:16 am

    This should add some spice to my day.? I posted a link with the comment “LOL”, should be interesting to see how some of my former McD coworkers react.? Their demands are McRidiculous! and yes you can supersize that exclamation point



  2. yeah on November 30, 2012 at 11:14 am

    like despair.com said, sometimes the only solution is to fire the unhappy ones!? were I a business owner and my employees tried this crap I’d fire every last one of ’em that signed up and put a help for hire sign up – and eat the additional work myself until I got more less-selfish workers.



  3. Murphy on November 30, 2012 at 12:07 pm

    Hasn’t Bloomberg banned McD’s yet?



  4. Dimsdale on November 30, 2012 at 12:35 pm

    Welcome to the wonderful world of ?bamanomics!



  5. stinkfoot on November 30, 2012 at 1:13 pm

    Supersized entitlement?? Mickey-D’s isn’t stupid… the workers would be pricing themselves out of a JOB.
    The fact that Obama was voted back in despite his rather obvious agenda to undermine free enterprise capitalism makes this SO not a laughing matter.



  6. JBS on November 30, 2012 at 1:21 pm

    sarc
    Ha! Give the fast food workers what they want! Mushy burgers and deep-fried chicken/fish and potatoes? are soooo good. People will pay any price just to get their daily grease, sugar and salt. Sure. Go for it.
    This actually plays well into Bloomy’s Fat War by raising prices on fast junk food and lessening demand. Plus, ObamaCare is working to cut workers hours to less than 29/week. Oh, yeah. This is going to work out well for the workers — worked out well for those Hostess people!
    /sarc



  7. kateinmaine on December 1, 2012 at 2:25 pm

    concurrent to this story is the earnings report for mcd–sharply lower (margin compression/strong dollar), which virtually never happens with the golden arches.? corporate has floated the notion of adding to the dollar menu and dropping burger prices to .69/.89 respectively (regular/cheese) to spark things.? regional pooh-poohed the burger part out of concern that franchisees wouldn’t be able to make their normal margins.? add dangerously delusional hourly employees to the mix and i’m with jbs–hostess should be the cautionary tale AND pandemic promise to any business that allows it’s workers to think that the company which employs them is a democracy and they get a vote (union thuggery and activists who crash shareholders meetings only feed the mania).? if you wish to work in that sort of environment, YOU start a business and YOU set it up to function that way.? i will bet a twinkie twin-pack that the tune will be quite different. . .



  8. Lynn on December 2, 2012 at 9:09 am

    The Federal unemployment rate is 7.9% and there are 12.3 million unemployed. Workers are demanding ?$15 per hour. You ask if there is “a mental ?disconnect here”? Yes.



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