Thursday, August 29, 2013

Stupid Fast Food Workers Demand More Pay

I laugh at the latest wave of stupidity sweeping America.  Fast food workers think they deserve massive pay increases.  I say they deserve exactly what they're paid right now, and if they don't like it they can take a hike so some ambitious teenager can earn extra cash after school.

The minimum wage that fast food workers earn was never intended to guarantee a level of income that supports an entire four-person household.  Raising a family in post-Cold War America usually requires two wage earners because our halcyon days of prosperity are long gone.  Put two such wages together and you've got a $30K household income, more than enough to sustain a family in most of America.

This entire stupid idea is pushed by SEIU and other labor organizers to increase their base.  Private sector union membership has been declining for years.  Employers don't like union demands, work rules, production stoppages, rampant absenteeism, and other problems caused by activists who possess more attitude than intellect.  Consumers don't buy union label products because they want value for their dollar.  The unionized work ethic and its entitlement culture destroyed the US automobile industry.  Bring that culture to fast food and your burger will take an hour to serve.

Fast food workers can always work other jobs with equivalent prerequisites if they don't like flipping burgers.  They can pick vegetables, sweep floors, haul boxes, or shovel manure.  I've had to work some pretty worthless jobs in my life but I outgrew them once I acquired education, advanced skills, and leadership experience.  I don't expect most adult fast food workers to take the hint because I suspect they cluster at the left end of the IQ bell curve.