fast workers on strike

STRIKE! FOR FAST FOOD?

Today (8.29.2013) in areas across the country team members at various fast food restaraunt took part in a strike. Why one might ask? Because they want $15 an hour.  Having worked in the fast food/quick service restaurant indursty during and even after college I do think they need equal pay or at least better pay than minimum wage is needed. It’s simple you can’t live off 7.25 an hour or whatever minimum wage is today.

Some might say well they should just go get a better job, go to school or should  have gone to school, shouldn’t have made poor life choices, should have would have could have.  Lots of reason led people to work in the fast food restaurants. Truth is you don’t know the person serving you behind the counter story and truth is you most likely don’t care.  You just want the quick bite to eat for less than $5.00.

If you have every work fast food then you know that it’s no easy task. You have people that yell you, you work all day on your feet, move heavy boxes, stand in the back cooking in the hot kitchen and cleaning up puke from the kid the customer brought in who was sick. And that’s only a small portion of what they do. That’s not everything that they do.

Perhaps with low pay we don’t give them enough credit for what they do. After all if there was not fast food restaraunt then we would not be able to get our quick lunch for $5.00 and would be eating PB&J.  Have you ever thought of not having fast food restaraunt? What a world that would be.

Now, perhaps there are those that don’t deserve the equal pay because they don’t work as hard or hardly at all. But isn’t this the case with all jobs no matter were you are working? But there are some who put their heart and soul into it all, who actually like working in that environment and who perhaps even go to school for it. What about them? After all it is because of fast food workers that we are able to get our quick bite to eat without having to go to some fine dining or sit down restaurant just to eat.

If $15.00 is to much why now raising the cost of minimum wage a bit, so that the college students, high schooler's and those who have work there can at least have some to live on and not work 70 hours at week.

To those who still think it’s wrong to raise the cost of minimum wage, maybe you should try working in the fast food industry (and I don’t care if you have a PHD or college degree) just see what it is like or be reminded of what is like.

Fast food work after all someone is gotta do it as long as we want a quick bite.