Photo via @FastFoodForward.
Dozens of protesters blocked the sidewalk outside of McDonald’s on 71st street and Amsterdam Avenue on Wednesday, with many of them lying down in a die-in. The protest was part of the Fightfor15 campaign to raise minimum wages to $15, according to Gothamist.
Jackie Martinick, a die-in participant and a prep cook at a New York City Wendy’s, described the realities of living on a fast food paycheck. “I have to have other workers support me, and by that I mean taxpayers,” Martinick told us. “I live in a shelter, and my pay—I can’t eat three times a day like I’m supposed to. I can’t afford it. My check is gone within seven days, and my pay period is every two weeks. I’m not surviving.”
Other protests Wednesday wound through the neighborhood, on Central Park West and Broadway in the 60’s.
…wait until the McDonald’s shuts down and they’ll all be out of a job….stay in school…get an education….these jobs were never meant to be full-time positions…
Isn’t a large part of the problem a result of the high percentage of jobs that have been created over the last few decades have been in low wage service-related industries? Also, many low wage part time workers have accepted the fact that if they can’t get full time employment they need to work more than one job. Many are thwarted in their efforts to secure a second part time job because their employers use scheduling systems that require them to be on short notice to come into work or tell them to stay home on a day that they were scheduled to work.https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/08/13/us/starbucks-workers-scheduling-hours.html . I am no fan of Walmart but at least they have promised to end this practice. https://money.cnn.com/2015/02/19/news/companies/walmart-wages-schedules/
Kitty you are showing your ignorance. Most McDonalds workers are now adults. They do not work there because they choose to. its because they have to. Most people on food stamps have jobs! If minimum wage isn’t enough to cover the most basic living expense on a full time salary then what is it for?
hurrah Cameron! most UWSers agree with you and with the protesting workers. the comments section here has a knack for attracting the ranters… “talk radio phenomena”, it’s called.
You should check out how this stupid minimum wage hike is working in Seattle. (Spoiler: it’s disastrous)
Minimum wage jobs are minimum wage for a reason. Low to no skill. Can’t wait for robots to take these jobs from these ungrateful idiots…can’t even go to the 71st McD’s because the workers are SO ghetto and can’t even take an order correctly.
I grew up in Seattle and still have friends and family there. Its far from disastrous and has boosted by the local economy.
You should check out how this stupid minimum wage hike is working in Europe. (Spoiler: it’s fantastic)
Automation is going to get rid of all their jobs within the next few decades.
K and K, where’s your empathy? Do you think people should be paid so little that they’re forced to collect food stamps just to live?have you seen the latest new stories about CEOs making 300 times the salary of their average employees?
Nice logic Anita – if the CEO of McD’s were flipping burgers making 300x the average worker, yeah it’s a problem. But his responsibilities are a little more than that -like running one of the largest companies int the world with stores in almost every country.
This worker to CEO pay argument is one of the most ridiculous ever created, but then that’s what socialism preaches. (Spoiler Alert – Socialism doesn’t work, ask anyone in living in one of the Socialist paradises like Cuba, Vietnam, Laos, Venezuela, etc.). Heck China is only Socialist in name – they have more capitalist tendencies than we do.
That’s debatable. The hundred+ % gap between CEO and average worker’s pay is a relatively recent phenomenon. Fortune 500 CEOs managed to live quite well prior to the explosion of CEO pay and CEO contracts did not contain the “golden parachute” provisions that exist today that guarantee extravagant severance packages even if the CEO has mismanaged the company. I don’t recall anyone complaining that the US was a socialist country in the days before massive gaps.
We need affordable housing for New Yorkers in the service industry. Young people and entry level applicants will not be hired for this type of job if the salary is $15/hr.
I support the goal of the protesters –fair wages. Taxpayers should not be carrying the load for MD’s profits and that is what we do when an employer does not pay a living wage. No one working a full time jshould have to rely food stamps to feed their family.
I hope thay can take the energy and use it to accomplish ther goal and to help the kids who hang out at this MD Find better outlets for theirs instead of fighting each other. This corner is a dangerous place to be at certain times of day.
Gee, when I first saw the photo of the “dead bodies” on the sidewalk in front of McDonalds, I thought the McRib sandwich was back! 🙂
Higher wages = higher prices = less customers = no income for franchise owners (not MCD) = CLOSING = NO jobs.
But is this a bad thing?
Isn’t MCD food a contributor to poor health and childhood obesity.
Plus wouldn’t the UWS be better off without this kind of fast food establishment.
How come people don’t say the same thing when people in corporate America get their 3/4 % annual raises, not to mention their bonuses.
You’re exactly right. And then when that happens, all of the UWS liberals can bitch about higher prices and no jobs and the increase in homeless. The circle of life
I’m not without empathy, but did they have to block Broadway? The meter ran up more than $10 in 5 blocks waiting for them to clear!
oy veh ! $10 !!
PTSD?
EXACTLY! Thanks to (un)social media all these self-righteous types think they have the right to inconvenience ordinary people who have NOTHING to do with the perceived “injustice”.
Actually, most of them just want to get themselves photographed for their Facebook “wall,’ to “Tweet” pictures of themselves, or to appear on a YouTube video…thus establishing their “coolness” bona fides.
And then when NYPD tries to restore order they start complaining about ‘police riot’ etc.
Sounds much like the 60’s 70’s. Soon they’ll be calling cops “Pigs” and holding up clenched fists, ala Black Pant’ers (stet).
Then again, maybe this will bring back Tie-Dye. Tie-dye was nice!
How could you have a “die in” for a protest about fair wages. Seems to me that these protesters are taking advantage of the recent protests surrounding high profile deaths a la Al Sharkton. Ignorance at its finest! If they want higher wages, they should get educated and aspire to something better – not expect others to support their lack of effort. So very tired of these types of protests. As someone else said – fire them all as there are plenty of other people in line for their jobs.
hurrah drg, Tom D. & Tiredoftheseclowns! most UWSers agree with you against the entitlement crowd. the comments section here has a knack for attracting the extremists liberals… “talk radio phenomena”, it’s called.
Get a room, webot and Bruce.
These were designed as entry level positions-over time an increasing number, due to low skill levels, have turned into ‘real’ jobs. Is it fair to receive under $10/hour. Perhaps not. However, if wages were $15/hour it’s not unreadable to assume that the results are fewer patrons, and down the road, less employees or a closed facility. It’s hard to be sympathetic when the level of service is often so abysmal, whether in a fast food shop or a Duane Reade–unfortunately you have a significant piece of the population-no need to spell out the demographics-whose skill set is better suited to the 19th century.
When I was in high school, I worked at Wendy’s. It was my first job. These are not supposed to be “living wage” jobs. These types of jobs are temporary stepping stones to gain real world work experience so you can move on to bigger and better things. None of the protesters seem to grasp the simple math that higher wages = higher prices = fewer customers = more store closures = no more jobs. Then they’ll really be complaining.
actually, the $15 wage would add a comparably small amount to the cost of each hamburger or chicken sandwich, especially in NY. and please look at the fast food workers and Starbuck’s barristas next time. they’re not high school kids.
by the way, college professors (adjuncts) also took part in these protests.
I dont believe that is correct. Fast food restaurants budget is 25% for wages. Increasing from $9 to $15 is a 66% increase. The average profit margin for a franchise is 3-4%. Usually about 30,000 a year… the actual cost of a single worker now making $15/hour.
Based on math and not idealism, the price increase to maintain that limited profit would be on the order of 30%. Many many studies have shown that fast food sales are HIGHLY price sensitive,,, resulting in ~ 1% drop in sales for every 1% price income.
You can do the math, Despite the lofty goal of a “living wage”, higher salary = higher prices = lower sales = going out of business = NO jobs.
read the info about seatlles restaurants for confirmation
even accepting all your numbers, the increase in prices would only be 16.5% (66% * 25%). i have seen analyses which have a much lower number.
but i wonder how much rent cost in the budgets? it seems like the same people who complain about workers getting a decent level of pay also don’t want any sort of rent protection for commercial tenants. rent increases probably play a bigger role in price increases.
in any case, i don’t see any justification for adults — yes, these are adults — working 40 hours a week and not being able to afford even basics. and often these workers cannot get 40 hours.
This is how LAZY the protesters are – they can’t be bothered to stand or walk a picket line, so they just lie down.
Haven’t they heard the expression, “not to take it lying down” meaning not to submit to insults or injustice passively?
Pathetic. They don’t want to work for any amount.
This is taken from the days of sit-ins, and those people weren’t lazy just making a statement!
The only way that wages will increase across the board is if demand for labor increases. For that to happen we need to have a thriving, growing economy, which is not happening under the current public policy regime. I do sympathize with these workers, but government price controls are not the answer to this problem.
Basic economics teaches us that price floors (setting a minimum price for something that is above market level) result in surpluses. In this case surplus of labor, i.e. higher unemployment.
the vast number of recent economic stoudies re: minimum wage increases show no job losses or increases in unemployment. this includes studies where there is a state boundary and a community spans two states, one side increases the minimum wage and the other doesn’t.
Raising the minimum wage helps our economy.
Period. Corporations of course dont want to and would rather pay as little as possible and have taxpayers pick up the slack. Unless you’re in favor of ‘trickle down economics’ (which is a proven joke) you should support raising the minimum wage!
Very nice argument Stephanie. I love your use of statistics and the number of examples where this type of increase has worked well.
Contrasting drg’s financial analysis of the issue with your position i.e. “Raising the minimum wage helps our economy.Period!” provides great insight into what we’re dealing with here.
haha. 1000x this.
Similarly, the argument that extending unemployment benefits indefinitely is good for the economy. “period”.
proven not true. The states that cut off the benefits earliest had the largest employment increase. Even NY eventually did. The current employmnet increase is though by some economists to be directly due the cutoff of benefits.
so much for conventional (progressive) wisdom
Stephanie- where do you get your talking points? Comedy Central? Adorable.
Sadly, the most obvious solution is to reduce the number of food-service workers and either have the excess find alternative employment (unlikely) or go on welfare (likely). Those who are illegal immigrants can return whence they came.
Meanwhile crack down on welfare fraud; specifically people drawing welfare simultaneously in multiple jurisdictions. In time, the message will be received: do not have children whom one cannot support and who will not be able to learn skills.
Happily, Americans can make their own brown-bag lunches, lose weight, and dodge the bullet that is type 2 diabetes.
How do so many low wage workers have enough disposable income to afford expensive late-model cellphones and other items typically associated with higher income levels?