...some of the additional effects raising the minimum wage income has on society. The United States low wage workers, namely the fast food industry workers are currently demanding higher wages. We will discuss the effect of those higher wages to businesses, the workers and those who we would not think to be affected. Effects of Minimum Wage Increases Chapter 1 Introduction Anyone who watches the local or national news has heard of the recent debate over raising the nation’s minimum wage requirements. Employees of McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Burger King are protesting in the streets and going on strike demanding a $15 per hour minimum wage (Fast Food Workers). These restaurant chains and others do not believe the minimum wage should be raised to $15 per hour for fast-food workers. There are many arguments to support both the demand to raise the minimum wage and not to raise the minimum wage. This paper will focus on different arguments and the impacts of raising the minimum wage will have on society from different angles, the first being how employers may respond to the wage increase by reducing the amount of employees they employ. The second focuses on who the mandated increase will most likely impact. And the third and final being the artificial inflation effects on the consumer. History Raising the minimum wage is not a new idea for the United States. In 1938 congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) which ensured minimum wage of 25 cents per hour (USDofL)...
Words: 2140 - Pages: 9
...Fast Food Workers’ Strike Raul Valdez’s section On Thursday September 4th 2014, thousands of fast food restaurant workers walked out of their post and joined a street protest demanding a wage of $15 per hour. Fast food workers in more than 100 cities in the US joined the protest hoping to disturb the fast food chains enough to get their executives’ attention. This protest was part of the movement that was organized by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). A previous strike was organized on May this year and it took place not only in the US but in at least 33 countries like The UK, Philippines, India, Japan, and Belgium among others. The protests were supposed to be peaceful, but there were some instances of protesters blocking streets. The police had to intervene and at least 430 people were arrested. Kendall Fells, the organizer director of Fast Food Forward organization that helped organize the protest said “There has to be civil disobedience because workers don’t see any other way to get $15 an hour and a union” Protesters were hoping that their absence from work would make these fast food restaurants lose revenue and create chaos forcing executives in these establishments to accept the protesters’ demands. A similar strike took place when the Market Basket workers abandoned their posts when the Market Basket Board of Directors decided to replace their CEO. Although the fast food protest was highly organized and the majority of workers joined, some workers...
Words: 3568 - Pages: 15
...Some people think that raising the minimum wage to $15.00 per hour is a good thing. They think that it will make the economy stronger and that those that got to take advantage of the wage increase, will benefit. If they raise the minimum wage to $15.00 per hour , are they also going to raise the wage of people to fought to make that much? People should be more concerned raising the wage of the teachers that are responsible for the education and growth of our children. Or perhaps the wage of the medics and first responders should be raised, as they are supposed to arrive in an timely matter in response to o emergency. What ever the case, fast food restaurants are considered entry level employment. One is not required to have any experience or special skills, just the ability to follow directions, administer good customer service and have good time management. This paper will discuss the reasons why raising the minimum wage for a fast food worker to $15.00 per hour is a negative thing. Fast food workers should receive an increase in wage, but not $15.00 per hour. If the wage increases to $15.00 per hour this may cause a negative effect on unemployment for low-skilled and teenage workers, an increase in debit, and a change in job qualifications. According to Senate Republican Party Committee (2013) “Raising the minimum wage could hurt opportunities for teens to land their first job -- and with it the chance to learn valuable life and work skills that cannot be taught in the classroom...
Words: 793 - Pages: 4
...Surviving the $15 Minimum Wage: McDonald’s Struggle to Remain Competitive Rasel Ahammed Dario Colon Gonzalez Gregory A. Delts Valerie Demas Keller Graduate School of Management Professor Vera Daniels MGMT 530: Managerial Decision Making November 27, 2015 Table of Contents Page 3: Executive Summary Page 4: Introduction-Overview of Decision Problem Page 4: Problem Statement Page 5: Objectives Page 6: Summary of Key Objectives Page 6: Alternatives Page : Description of Alternatives Page : Selection Page : Consequence Table with Original Values Page : Ranking Alternatives Page : Scoring Model: Title Page : Weighted Scoring Model: Title Page : Consequences Page : Risk Profile: Title Page : Implementation, Monitoring, and Control Page : Timeline Page : Summary Page : Works Cited Executive Summary McDonald’s restaurant chain, long considered an industry and community leader, has begun to experience a reversal of its corporate fortunes. They have seen a steady decline in total profits, sales, and a weakening of their corporate image. To add to their troubles, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo, and a growing number countrywide are in the process of approving a bill almost doubling the minimum wage for fast food workers from $8.75 to $15. The problem is, knowing that there will be a dramatic increase in salary expenses in the next few years, how can McDonald’s alter its business practices...
Words: 2590 - Pages: 11
... Think back to your first job...what was your pay starting out? Entry levels jobs in the past certainly did not earn higher wages like those being fought for today. Fast food workers are raging for an increase in minimum wage-to perform jobs that don’t require a high school diploma, or college education...little to no academic requirements are needed to work at a fast food restaurant. Minimum wage in North Carolina is currently $7.25, whereas fast food workers would like to raise minimum wage to $15.00. A person with minimum skills should not receive higher than current minimum wage. Fight for $15 is a Workers Organizing Committee, a union of fast food workers raging ands striking for higher pay. This organization was founded in November of 2012. These workers believe that they are forced to live in poverty, because they earn a wage of $7.25. “We work for corporations that are making tremendous profits, but do not pay employees enough to support our families and cover basic needs.” (Fight for $15) These jobs are not meant to be careers for adults with families. These jobs are meant for teenagers that live at home and are in high school or college. Clearly, no one can raise a family off of $15,080 annual income, before taxes, if they worked 40 hours a week. But, a high school or college student can. One of the strikers says, “Low wage jobs are the fastest growing jobs in the nation, and they need to pay more.” (Fight for $15) They claim that they are ‘re-building...
Words: 1301 - Pages: 6
...http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2013/08/06/Are-the-Fast-Food-Workers-Right-About-Minimum-Wage Summary of the article: The article is focused in a current controversial issue that involves the fast-food industry and how right are their workers about increasing their minimum wage to $15. The article mentions how a basic living standard is what fast- food workers make to support themselves. The labor Bureau reported that 28 percent of core front-line fast-food workers regularly work 40 or more hours per week, compared to 75 percent of the country’s workforce as a whole. More than two-thirds of workers across the country are over the age of 20, and 68 percent are the main wage earners in their families, and more than a quarter of Americans working in fast-food restaurants are parents, raising at least one child. People who work in fast-food jobs are paid so little that having to rely on public assistance is the rule, rather than the exception, even for those working 40 hours or more a week. Fast food is a $200 billion-a-year industry. The wage for core front-line workers at fast-food restaurants nationally is $8.69 an hour. Only 13 percent of the jobs provide health benefits. The fast-food industry’s low wages and meager benefits, often accompanied by part-time. The article also explains that on the other hand the food industry could react differently to this demand reducing the headcounts. Eventually, putting pressure on those employers will emerge that have trained...
Words: 680 - Pages: 3
...The Devastating Effect of Raising the Minimum Wage Raising the Federal minimum wage does not reduce poverty. If legislators raise the price of low and unskilled labor, businesses would reduce the workforce. The very laborers that are pushing for raising the minimum wage are the ones that will suffer the most. An increase in the minimum wage would lead to job loss and may result in higher prices for consumers. Minimum wage increases may result in severe economic devastation. Recently in New York between ten and fifteen thousand laborers marched in an effort to persuade lawmakers to increase the minimum wage to fifteen dollars per hour. The majority of those marching were activist students and employees of fast food industries. If protesters are successful in securing a fifteen dollar per hour minimum wage up to seventy percent of them will lose their jobs. For the first time in history, if the fifteen dollar per hour wage is approved, a fully automated solution would be an economically viable solution for struggling companies like McDonalds. Several companies are nearing commercial launch of the automated burger process. “Roboburger,” an automated burger machine can produce 8,500 burgers a day while 25 employees can produce 320 per day in comparison. If the companies are only required to pay a minimum wage of eight dollars per hour and contract labor, which means no benefits, it would still be viable to hire those 25 employees. The automation over the next few years...
Words: 814 - Pages: 4
...and far between, and it’s very hard to find a single job that can pay well enough to support a family. This issue has been a hot topic for political debate for years now, and lately the argument has grown bigger and parties are looking for solutions for this. A raise in the minimum wage is a suggestion that many of the liberals in Congress have brought to the table to help out these people working for minimal pay. While this sounds great from the outside, the core of the idea must be examined to reveal the fatal flaws in the plan. The minimum wage in the United States should not be raised. In every field of business in the American industry, prices fluctuate based on many factors, employee wages being one of the major ones. Specifically speaking in terms of the food industry, wages of employees make up a huge fraction into the price of the food. If the minimum wage goes up to one of the amounts currently being discussed of fifteen dollars an hour, all of the current prices of food will increase by a very similar margin. When restaurants are forced to pay a higher minimum wage, they must repair that deficit by raising the price of products to continue to raise money. So the argument of raising the minimum wage to create more cash flow in the current market is practically invalid. Even though the income of the workers is increasing, the price of living will also increase with it, leaving the workers exactly where they were to begin with. Imagine a McDonald’s worker with a wife and...
Words: 712 - Pages: 3
...Burger Bots: Burger Making Machines That Will Revolutionize the Fast Food Industry Discussing the loss of human jobs to machines, Andrew McAfee, co-author of the book Race against the Machine, says “we ain’t seen nothing yet.” In the United States, the fast food industry has one of the highest employee turnover rates at 50 percent, costing the industry about $3.4 billion in recruiting and training. Many chains are already looking for ingenious ways to take humans out of the picture, threatening workers in an industry that employs 2.4 million wait staffers, nearly 3 million cooks and food preparers and many of the United States’ 3.3 million cashiers. Automation in the fast food industry has already started. In Europe, McDonald’s “hired” 7,000 touch-screen kiosks to handle cashiering duties, taking orders and handling payments. The use of touch screens at drive-thrus will also soon be available. While the full automation of fast-food cashiers isn’t here just yet, researchers and those in the business say it’s only a matter of time before ordering and payment become primarily self-service. In this essay I would like to discuss another type of automation, a technology which I believe will further revolutionize and potentially result in a significant number of jobs lost in the fast food industry, the burger making robot or burger bot. The burger bot doesn’t just flip the beef patties; it actually makes the burgers from start to finish. It may sound ludicrous at first, but...
Words: 2567 - Pages: 11
...Issue 4, pp. 258-269. The issue of the minimum wage permitted by law increments has been disputable since the initiation of the base wage law in 1938. The minimum wage permitted by law, which incorporates tyke work laws, was established to shield American specialists from exploitation and poverty during tough economic times (Schuldt, Robert; Woodall, Davis; Block, Walter E., (2012). Despite the fact that the law achieved what it was planned to at the time, increments in the minimum wage permitted by law through the years have delivered higher unemployment rates and higher destitution levels. As the minimum wage permitted by law expands, managers are compelled to dispense with representatives who are not living up to expectations up to the current the minimum wage permitted by law level and contract better-gifted individuals who are justified regardless of the wages they are paid. Expanding the minimum wage permitted by law causes an increment in unemployment among specific populaces for this very reason. Totally dispensing with the minimum wage permitted by law is not the answer for the issue, however in the event that the minimum wage permitted by law stays at its current level for a couple of more years, it may rouse the minimum wage permitted by law workers to accomplish more to ensure their own budgetary future. The civil argument over raising the minimum wage permitted by law has been a hotly debated issue after President...
Words: 1825 - Pages: 8
...Issue 4, pp. 258-269. The issue of the minimum wage permitted by law increments has been disputable since the initiation of the base wage law in 1938. The minimum wage permitted by law, which incorporates tyke work laws, was established to shield American specialists from exploitation and poverty during tough economic times (Schuldt, Robert; Woodall, Davis; Block, Walter E., (2012). Despite the fact that the law achieved what it was planned to at the time, increments in the minimum wage permitted by law through the years have delivered higher unemployment rates and higher destitution levels. As the minimum wage permitted by law expands, managers are compelled to dispense with representatives who are not living up to expectations up to the current the minimum wage permitted by law level and contract better-gifted individuals who are justified regardless of the wages they are paid. Expanding the minimum wage permitted by law causes an increment in unemployment among specific populaces for this very reason. Totally dispensing with the minimum wage permitted by law is not the answer for the issue, however in the event that the minimum wage permitted by law stays at its current level for a couple of more years, it may rouse the minimum wage permitted by law workers to accomplish more to ensure their own budgetary future. The civil argument over raising the minimum wage permitted by law has been a hotly debated issue after President...
Words: 1825 - Pages: 8
...Issue 4, pp. 258-269. The issue of the minimum wage permitted by law increments has been disputable since the initiation of the base wage law in 1938. The minimum wage permitted by law, which incorporates tyke work laws, was established to shield American specialists from exploitation and poverty during tough economic times (Schuldt, Robert; Woodall, Davis; Block, Walter E., (2012). Despite the fact that the law achieved what it was planned to at the time, increments in the minimum wage permitted by law through the years have delivered higher unemployment rates and higher destitution levels. As the minimum wage permitted by law expands, managers are compelled to dispense with representatives who are not living up to expectations up to the current the minimum wage permitted by law level and contract better-gifted individuals who are justified regardless of the wages they are paid. Expanding the minimum wage permitted by law causes an increment in unemployment among specific populaces for this very reason. Totally dispensing with the minimum wage permitted by law is not the answer for the issue, however in the event that the minimum wage permitted by law stays at its current level for a couple of more years, it may rouse the minimum wage permitted by law workers to accomplish more to ensure their own budgetary future. The civil argument over raising the minimum wage permitted by law has been a hotly debated issue after President...
Words: 1824 - Pages: 8
...Paper Coy, Peter. “How Much Am I Worth? - The Case for a $10.10 Minimum Wage.” Bloomberg Businessweek. Feb 2014: 10-13. Print. The Cost-Of-Living in Hawaii and New York are among the highest. Yet, in both states the minimum wage is set at $7.25. In his January 2014 State of the Union address, President Obama requested to raise a new federal minimum wage of $10.10 an hour. This movement has progressed within the past couple of weeks since its publication in February 2014. In the following pages, I will attempt to update and fill in the gaps where the article has left off. How would you like a 40% increase in your payroll? I bet that sounds like a great idea! How about if you and your fellow coworker’s all received a 40% raise? Even better right? Now, what if that 40% increase went through with the entire nation? Although raising the minimum wage would not increase everyone’s wage, this is where the controversy starts. Set in 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act, or FLSA, is the fundamental compensation law in the United States. It is the federal law that establishes a minimum wage and limits the number of hours that may be worked in a standard week. It defines two categories of employees, the exempt employees and the non-exempt employees. The exempt employees are not allowed over-time pay, and non-exempt employees who are allowed overtime. The non-exempt employees are highly effected through this issue of raising minimum wage. Non-exempt employees are given the benefit of overtime...
Words: 4144 - Pages: 17
...leading global food service retailer with over 36,000 locations scattered across the globe. McDonald’s has been serving hamburgers since 1955. They gave us the McNugget, Egg McMuffin, Big Mac, McRib and the Filet-o-Fish. They serve these tasty treats to over 69 million customers a day. Their customer profile is from “Cradle to Grave”. In 2014 their consolidated statement of income showed they had $6,987.1 million in revenues. McDonald’s employees nearly 2 million people while fighting to stay on top of the fast food industry. Their main competition comes from Burger King Inc., Yum! Brands Inc., Subway and Wendy’s Company. SWOT Analysis: Strengths • One of the most recognizable brands in the world with restaurants in 119 different countries. You can find a McDonalds on every continent except Antarctica • Very charitable with a wide range of programs • Community conscious organization • A lot of the McDonalds are Franchises • Excellent locations, they can be found conveniently across American and in some airports as well as Wal-Marts • High standards of food products • Connected to social network with over 55 million likes on Facebook • Having Redbox in their stores brings additional costumers in Weaknesses • They’ve constantly been criticized for targeting children with Happy Meal toys by parent type organizations • In a world of “greening” they still use Styrofoam cups which makes them less earth friendly • Unhealthy image • Minimum wages causing high...
Words: 1185 - Pages: 5
...Minimum wage in California is predicted to increase up to $15.00 an hour by the year 2023. Most people fighting for an increase in minimum wage are restaurant workers, especially in the fast food industry, dissatisfied with the current minimum wage of about $10.00. Economists, on the other hand, oppose raising the minimum wage for numerous reasons, such as an increase in unemployment, the effects it has on minors, the effects of the free market, and the “-ism”’s that increase. The largest and most often point argued by economists that oppose raising minimum wage is that it increases unemployment. Statistics show that “...in 2013, a $1 increase in the minimum wage was associated with a 1.48 percentage point increase in the unemployment rate…”...
Words: 919 - Pages: 4
