Be Careful What You Wish For

Lately, there have been some demonstrations at some fast food restaurants. These are protests that the media are calling "strikes." They aren't strikes. Strikes are union sanctioned (if they are not sanctioned, they are called "wildcat strikes") walkouts that can last days, weeks, months, even years. These protests rarely last more than an hour or so. Just long enough to get media coverage.

The issue is the pay. The idea is that fast food workers should be entitled to a living wage. It's only fair, say the people behind these protests. After all, look at the money that these corporations make. Yet they pay minimum wage and, often, provide few or no benefits.

When I was a teenie-bopper, I worked for minimum wage; sometimes less. In fact, I worked for minimum wage at age 23 and again at 24. I was a cushion stuffer (my "title" was upholsterer's apprentice) at 23 (right after I got out of the Navy) and I was a janitor at a small drapery factory when I was 24. When I first went to work for the phone company in  1970 (then called Southern Bell), I was paid $109 a week ($2.725 per hour)... minimum wage was $1.60 at the time. But I also got medical benefits which did not cover me for 6 months and did not cover my first wife's pregnancy since that was an "existing condition."

Trust me, I know what it is like trying to get by on low pay.

Still, I do not support these protests. You might think me cruel but I have what I believe are good reasons.  Let's examine the fast food industry, shall we?

Very few of the fast food restaurants are actually run by the corporations that own the names. They are mostly run by average people who buy the franchises the corporations offer. They are mostly staffed by teenagers and retired people. Precious few expect to make a career out of the job. Those precious few are what we call "losers" and we laugh at them... behind their backs, of course.

The cost of purchasing a McDonalds franchise is about $250,000 dollars. And it costs more to build it, buy the equipment needed, pay taxes, do some of the advertising, and so on. You have to buy supplies, pay for maintenance, hire and pay people to work in it, and much more.

If the protesters get their way, the dollar menu will disappear and the price of a meal at a fast food restaurant will go up. Way up. They won't be a cheap meal anymore. You probably pay close to what a fast food worker makes in an hour for a meal now. Guess how much you would pay for a burger, fries, and drink if the worker gets the $15 an hour? Guess who would not be able to afford it? If you said a fast food worker, you'd be right.

Guess what else would happen... there would be fewer and fewer fast food places to go to. People wouldn't want to start one, wouldn't want the aggravation and the hassle. Many, if not most, of those workers wanting higher pay would lose their jobs if they got it.

So, $15 per hour would be fair... and a potential disaster.