I don't eat fast food. I think the food is of poor quality and expensive and not good for me so I don't eat it. I have not shopped at walmart since the Tiananmen Square massacre of 4JUN1989 because I believe the evil walton family not only approved of the massacre they use their influence with the government of the prc to continue to repress workers rights and wages in the prc. The waltons would love to have the same repression available to them in the U.S. But I have always been sympathetic for those who work at fast food chains and big box stores because I know they are not paid a living wage and have no benefits, they are modern American sweatshop workers. This piece from Robert Reich exposes the immorality and greed of the ceos and executives of fast food restaurants and the waltons. It is also an indictment of the rest of us whether you shop at these places or not. Shopping at these fast food restaurants or big box stores shows you approve of taking advantage of and abusing their employees and the the greed and immorality of their corporate leadership. To not shop at these places but willingly ignore the employees plight is just as bad. These people are our brothers and sisters (often literally) and we should be advocates for their welfare, meaning being paid a living wage, having benefits including health care and vacation, and the right to organize if they so choose. You empower these workers when you don't shop at fast food restaurants and walmart. You empower the greedy, immoral corporate boards and ceos when you do. Take a step to support these workers by signing the petition for a living wage for these workers at http://action.sumofus.org/a/fast-food-strike/68/172/?rd=1&sub=fwd&t=3&referring_akid=1071.216835.F8iHFW and check out my earlier post I'm not lovin' it...FAST FOOD WORKERS STRIKE IN NYC 29NOV12
This from Robert Reich.....
What does the drama in Washington over the "fiscal cliff" have to do
with strikes and work stoppages among America's lowest-paid workers at
Walmart, McDonald's, Burger King, and Domino's Pizza?
Everything.
Jobs are slowly returning to America, but most of them pay lousy
wages and low if non-existent benefits. The Bureau of Labor Statistics
estimates that seven out of 10 growth occupations over the next decade
will be low-wage -- like serving customers at big-box retailers and
fast-food chains. That's why the median wage keeps dropping, especially
for the 80 percent of the workforce that's paid by the hour.
It also part of the reason why the percent of Americans living below
the poverty line has been increasing even as the economy has started to
recover -- from 12.3 percent in 2006 to 15 percent in 2011. More than 46
million Americans now live below the poverty line.
Many of them have jobs. The problem is these jobs just don't pay enough to lift their families out of poverty.
So, encouraged by the economic recovery and perhaps also by the election returns, low-wage workers have started to organize.
Yesterday in New York hundreds of workers at dozens of fast-food
chain stores went on strike, demanding a raise to $15-an-hour from their
current pay of $8 to $10 an hour (the median hourly wage for food
service and prep workers in New York is $8.90 an hour).
Last week, Walmart workers staged demonstrations and walkouts at
thousands of Walmart stores, also demanding better pay. The average
Walmart employee earns $8.81 an hour. A third of Walmart's employees
work less than 28 hours per week and don't qualify for benefits.
These workers are not teenagers. Most have to support their families.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median age of
fast-food workers is over 28; and women, who comprise two-thirds of the
industry, are over 32. The median age of big-box retail workers is over
30.
Organizing makes economic sense.
Unlike industrial jobs, these can't be outsourced abroad. Nor are
they likely to be replaced by automated machinery and computers. The
service these workers provide is personal and direct: Someone has to be
on hand to help customers and dole out the burgers.
And any wage gains they receive aren't likely to be passed on to
consumers in higher prices because big-box retailers and fast-food
chains have to compete intensely for consumers. They have no choice but
to keep their prices low.
That means wage gains are likely to come out of profits -- which, in
turn, would affect the return to shareholders and the total compensation
of top executives.
That wouldn't be such a bad thing.
According to a
recent report
by the National Employment Law Project, most low-wage workers are
employed by large corporations that have been enjoying healthy profits.
Three-quarters of these employers (the fifty biggest employers of
low-wage workers) are raking in higher revenues now than they did before
the recession.
McDonald's -- bellwether for the fast-food industry -- posted strong
results during the recession by attracting cash-strapped customers, and
its sales have continued to rise.
Its CEO, Jim Skinner, got $8.8 million last year. In addition to
annual bonuses, McDonald's also gives its executives a long-term bonus
once every three years; Skinner received an $8.3 million long-term bonus
in 2009 and is due for another this year. The value of Skinner's other
perks -- including personal use of the company aircraft, physical exams
and security -- rose 19 percent to $752,000.
Yum!Brands, which operates and licenses Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza
Hut, has also done wonderfully well. Its CEO, David Novak, received
$29.67 million in total compensation last year, placing him number 23 on
Forbes' list of highest paid chief executives.
Walmart -- the trendsetter for big-box retailers -- is also doing
well. And it pays its executives handsomely. The total compensation for
Walmart's CEO, Michael Duke, was $18.7 million last year -- putting him
number 82 on
Forbes' list.
The wealth of the Walton family -- which still owns the lion's share
of Walmart stock -- now exceeds the wealth of the bottom 40 percent of
American families combined, according to an
analysis by the Economic Policy Institute.
Last week, Walmart
announced
that the next Wal-Mart dividend will be issued December 27 instead of
January 2, after the Bush tax cut for dividends expires -- thereby
saving the Walmart family as much as $180 million. (According to the
online weekly "
Too Much," this $180 million would be enough to give 72,000 Wal-Mart workers now
making $8 an hour a 20 percent annual pay hike. That hike would still leave those workers making under the poverty line for a family of three.)
America is becoming more unequal by the day. So wouldn't it be
sensible to encourage unionization at fast-food and big-box retailers?
Yes, but here's the problem.
The unemployment rate among people with just a high school degree or
less -- which describes most (but not all) fast-food and big-box retail
workers -- is still in the stratosphere. The Bureau of Labor Statistics
puts it at 12.2 percent, and that's a conservative estimate. It was 7.7
percent at the start of 2008.
High unemployment makes it much harder to organize a union because
workers are even more fearful than usual of losing their jobs. Eight
dollars an hour is better than no dollars an hour. And employers at
big-box and fast-food chains have not been reluctant to give the boot to
employees associated with attempts to organize for higher wages.
Meanwhile, only half of the people who lose their jobs qualify for
unemployment insurance these days. Retail workers in big-boxes and
fast-food chains rarely qualify because they haven't been on the job
long enough or are there only part-time. This makes the risk of job loss
even greater.
Which brings us back to what's happening in Washington.
Washington's obsession with deficit reduction makes it all the more
likely these workers will face continuing high unemployment -- even
higher if the nation succumbs to deficit hysteria. That's because
cutting government spending reduces overall demand, which hits low-wage
workers hardest. They and their families are the biggest casualties of
austerity economics.
And if the spending cuts Washington is contemplating fall on low-wage
workers whose families are under the poverty line -- reducing not only
the availability of unemployment insurance but also food stamps, housing
assistance, infant and child nutrition, child health care, and Medicaid
-- it will be even worse. (It's worth recalling, in this regard, that
62 percent of the cuts in the Republican budget engineered by Paul Ryan
fell on America's poor.)
By contrast, low levels of unemployment invite wage gains and make it
easier to organize unions. The last time America's low-wage workers got
a real raise (apart from the last hike in the minimum wage) was the
late 1990s when unemployment dropped to 4 percent nationally -
compelling employers to raise wages in order to recruit and retain them,
and prompting a round of labor organizing.
That's one reason why job growth must be the nation's number one priority. Not deficit reduction.
Yet neither side in the current "fiscal cliff" negotiations is
talking about America's low-wage workers. They're invisible in official
Washington.
Not only are they unorganized for the purpose of getting a larger
share of the profits at Walmart, McDonald's, and other giant firms,
they're also unorganized for the purpose of being heard in our nation's
capital. There's no national association of low-wage workers. They don't
contribute much to political campaigns. They have no Super PAC. They
don't have Washington lobbyists.
But if this nation is to reverse the scourge of widening inequality,
Washington needs to start paying attention to them. And the rest of us
should do everything we can to pressure Washington
andbig-box retailers and fast-food chains to raise their pay.
ROBERT B. REICH, Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the
University of California at Berkeley, was Secretary of Labor in the
Clinton administration. Time Magazine named him one of the ten most
effective cabinet secretaries of the last century. He has written
thirteen books, including the best sellers "Aftershock" and "The Work of
Nations." His latest is an e-book, "Beyond Outrage," now available in
paperback. He is also a founding editor of the American Prospect
magazine and chairman of Common Cause.
Follow Robert Reich on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/RBReich
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The more of us who go on strike, the louder our message will be that
it's not right for companies making billions of dollars to pay us
pennies. The most effective thing you can do right now is help us be LOUD – check out our video and share it far and wide after you have.
