Fast food employees across the country went on strike last Thursday, demanding better pay and the right to unionize. Several fast food stores closed as workers walked out and staged demonstrations. It’s being called the largest strike in the fast food industry, and the national coverage it received brings up issues of the minimum wage and workers’ rights to form unions.
Fast Food Workers Want $15 an Hour
Thousands of employees from several fast food chains in 50 cities all over the U.S., including New York, Chicago, Detroit, and Dallas, went on strike, asking for a base wage of $15 an hour. They claim that the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour is not enough to live on without an additional job.
In defense of the fast food industry, The National Restaurant Association said that the industry provides jobs and valuable training for more than 13 million Americans. Furthermore, only 5 percent of employees at fast food restaurants make minimum wage, and most of them are part-time.
Still, the average wage is very low for fast food workers – between $7 and $9 an hour before taxes. Many fast food workers are not unskilled teenagers on their first job, but educated adults supporting families. And because many employees work part time, they don’t receive full benefits.
If fast food restaurants do not choose to voluntarily raise their minimum wages, then workers might have to rely on the federal government to increase the minimum wage. The federal minimum wage has been set at $7.25 an hour since July 2009. (Many states also legislate their own minimum wages. In cases where the wage differs, the higher wage applies.) The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013 proposes an increase in the federal minimum wage to $9.80 an hour, but has not yet been voted on. Even if it passes, it’s not much closer to the $15 an hour fast food workers want.
Fast Food Workers Want to Unionize
Overall participation in unions had declined to a 97-year low, as reported in January this year. States adopting right-to-work laws, which allow most workers the choice of financially supporting or belonging to unions, have seen decreases in union membership. Last year, Michigan and Indiana passed right-to-work laws.
Despite declining popularity of unions, fast food workers still want the right to unionize without fear of being fired. Unionizing would allow them to collectively bargain for improved benefits and working conditions, but unionizing in the fast food industry has been notoriously difficult. Part of this difficulty comes from the franchisor structure of many fast food stores. Support has come from the Service Employees International Union, a labor union representing approximately 2 million workers in the U.S. and Canada.
Pressure to Change Must Come from Outside
The challenge that fast food workers face is the fact that many jobs in the industry are unskilled. That means that unionizing is difficult, as they have no leverage, and fast food restaurants don’t have a shortage of people willing to accept jobs at the current pay. The federal minimum wage is not going to be set at $15 anytime soon, and the fast food industry is unlikely to voluntarily raise pay. For fast food workers, the best case scenario would be for consumers to stop patronizing these restaurants until workers’ wages increase. But no one is expecting that anytime soon, either. As of now, the outlook isn’t great for fast food employees.
