Mc Donald's AlphaVille ...Coming To USA?

[thickornotatall]

http://www.againstcronycapitalism.org/2015/04/mcdonalds-hires-7000-touch-screen-cashiers-at-0-an-hour/

 

The answer to $15 an hour pay for workers....Living wage?...or too high?...When I first began to work (14 years old) I was paid $2/hour and then cheated..until my mom intervened...Lesson learned...I lioked having my own money to do as I wanted...Now many people have jobs to support an entire family that was supposed to be for part timers..after school work...No surprise Food Stamps etc are necessary..

[rvwnsd]

...Now many people have jobs to support an entire family that was supposed to be for part timers..after school work...No surprise Food Stamps etc are necessary..

I had this conversation with a friend just the other day. It sickens me when cities and states grant tax breaks to companies because they are bringing hundreds of jobs to a community and the jobs turn out to be part-time minimum wage jobs. I'm not complaining about the part-time or minimum wage nature of the jobs (I wasn't earning my current Director's salary when I worked the McDonald's drive-through, although I was paid more than minimum wage because I was promoted to be a crew trainer and the inventory clerk), but I am complaining about all of the tax incentives so often associated with them. The real issue is we have more people than we have jobs to sustain them. I recognize I will have my Liberal Democrat card revoked for saying this, but many people are simply not qualified for the jobs that pay more than minimum wage. Additionally, many are qualified for those types of jobs, but they cannot find one. Raising the minimum wage will not solve this problem.

[thickornotatall]

I had this conversation with a friend just the other day. It sickens me when cities and states grant tax breaks to companies because they are bringing hundreds of jobs to a community and the jobs turn out to be part-time minimum wage jobs. I'm not complaining about the part-time or minimum wage nature of the jobs (I wasn't earning my current Director's salary when I worked the McDonald's drive-through, although I was paid more than minimum wage because I was promoted to be a crew trainer and the inventory clerk), but I am complaining about all of the tax incentives so often associated with them. The real issue is we have more people than we have jobs to sustain them. I recognize I will have my Liberal Democrat card revoked for saying this, but many people are simply not qualified for the jobs that pay more than minimum wage. Additionally, many are qualified for those types of jobs, but they cannot find one. Raising the minimum wage will not solve this problem.

Learning to live within your means....that may sound impossible...Everyone does not need...smart phones..flat screens...designer labels...Starbucks...weekly manicures...dining out....taxi cabs instead of trains...I see so many young people wasting money on WANTS....not NEEDS....

Now that I am retired (at 53) I can see backwards to my parents drumming me into saving saving and saving more...I have always lived below my means and try to help people (friends) learn how to save a dollar and shave a dollar...I lost 2 good friends to bankruptcy....meaning that they always wanted everything....and charged their way into foreclosure...I refused to lend them funds for a vacation that I couldn't afford and told them so...I was told how cheap I was....I just don't want to see the rabbit hole swallow them..and knew I had little chance of being repaid....

Oh well....guess that wasn't a real friendship...

[mike carey]

I recognize I will have my Liberal Democrat card revoked for saying this, but many people are simply not qualified for the jobs that pay more than minimum wage. Additionally, many are qualified for those types of jobs, but they cannot find one. Raising the minimum wage will not solve this problem.

At the opposite risk, that of being labelled a delusional ultra-liberal, some of the absurdly low minimum wages in the US are nothing short of exploitation. Thick's comment that full time workers are now being paid wages designed for part-time after school work is disturbing. If a wage rate is intended for teens working after school there should be a separate adult minimum wage. I agree that raising the minimum wage isn't necessarily the solution, but a full time worker on the minimum wage should at least come close to being able to live on that wage without food stamps, and without being judged as being one of the undeserving poor. I have read that Costco pays well above the minimum wage on the basis that if their employees can't afford to shop there the company is doing something wrong (unlike Walmart that apparently has collection boxes for those of its staff who can't afford all the food they need).

 

Last week the Economist berated the UK Government for cutting low income tax credits and increasing the minimum wage too much. It recognised that there had to be a reasonable minimum wage but if it was too high it would reduce employment. Importantly it didn't say that any minimum wage reduces employment, that only happened above a certain level. The trick is working out what that level is. In Australia the minimum wage is $AU17.29 ($US12.60 atm), and there are loadings for weekends and public holidays, and for casual workers. A Big Mac is cheaper here than in the US (according to the Economist Big Mac index).

[sincitymix]

http://www.againstcronycapitalism.org/2015/04/mcdonalds-hires-7000-touch-screen-cashiers-at-0-an-hour/

 

The answer to $15 an hour pay for workers....Living wage?...or too high?...When I first began to work (14 years old) I was paid $2/hour and then cheated..until my mom intervened...Lesson learned...I lioked having my own money to do as I wanted...Now many people have jobs to support an entire family that was supposed to be for part timers..after school work...No surprise Food Stamps etc are necessary..

 

it is hard to see companies get tax breaks, earn muti billions, and then get a huge tax refund at the end of the year.. but they still scream broke, pain, suffering at a wage increase.

My previous employer tried their hardest to get rid of all the tenure people, tried (and mostly succeeded) in lowering the hourly rate to a Southern State minimum wage rate (because that's were the company is headquartered now), tried to get rid of (and mostly succeeded) in getting rid of as many full time hired by the company with benefits workers that they could. (they moved to a "more efficient and managed approach" of hiring strictly temps (so they could work them 40 hours a week, no vacation, pto, sick time, medical or prescription benefits, no holiday pay, no 401k, no bonus, and could be dismissed at any moment for any reason), I knew a girl who was there 3 years, I thought she was a regular employee like me, but nope, she was a temp, and stayed on only because the company kept promising she would become a regular employee "anytime now".

The company made record net profits every quarter in the billions for the last 15 years in a row. They gave the CEO and other executives raises in the millions and bonuses in the tens of millions (was in the end of year company statement), but as soon as our union (which wasn't the greatest, but they tried to be fair) asked for a raise for the employees, the company raised holy hell, said they were broke, had no money, could not afford it, was not in their budget, etc etc etc. (when we did get that raise, they would spread it out over 5 years. ( 0.25 first year etc etc) and then after the ink is dried give the ceo another bonus for his hard and outstanding work in increasing profits.

It is a shame, that the average ceo makes 3000 times what the lowest worker makes. I think in some parts of Europe, the executives of a company could only make like 2.5 times what they pay the lowest worker. though I am sure they make up for it with stocks and other perks.

[+ sync]

it is hard to see companies get tax breaks, earn muti billions, and then get a huge tax refund at the end of the year.. but they still scream broke, pain, suffering at a wage increase.

 

I recall the late Senator Ted Kennedy speaking to that on the floor of the Senate: "When does the greed stop?"

[bigvalboy]

I recall the late Senator Ted Kennedy speaking to that on the floor of the Senate: "When does the greed stop?"

 

Ted had his moments....and this was one of them.

 

[+ Gar1eth]

I'm not adverse to high CEO salaries in theory. But if the company is doing well it needs to reward the 'little' people who are the backbone of the company. While Walmart's profits I think have been flat, still the employees shouldn't have to be on public assistance to make ends meet. And there is the trick of not letting the employees work full-time so they aren't eligible for benefits. I'm also against companies moving their headquarters overseas to avoid taxes.

 

Gman

[mike carey]

And there is the trick of not letting the employees work full-time so they aren't eligible for benefits.

Gman, luckily employers can't use that trick here, or not to the same extent. People with permanent jobs, either part- or full-time, still receive benefits. Health care is not linked to employment so they don't get that, but they do receive paid sick leave, annual vacation and long-service leave (extra paid leave after 10 years' employment). Casual employees, those with no set hours, don't get the leave entitlements but are paid a 25% loading on their hourly rate. Employers have to pay 9% into retirement accounts for all employees. When you leave a permanent job you can take the cash value of any vacation days you haven't used, but retirement funds have to stay in the account until you are 60.