Fast-Food Workers Photograph What Life Is Like When You Make Less Than $15 an Hour

[Agschmid]

Some days, Mona Lee, 20, starts work at McDonald’s in Kansas City, Missouri, at 6 a.m., ends her shift at 1 p.m., and then immediately starts another shift at Sonic, which ends at 8 p.m. But since both jobs pay just $7.25 an hour, she still often doesn’t earn enough money to pay for basic expenses.

“I don't understand how I can work at two jobs and not have enough money to put food in the house,” she said. “We need to be able to live.”

Lee is one of the thousands of workers around the world who’ve joined Fight for $15, a movement calling for higher pay for fast-food workers and their right to unionize. She is also one of 16 workers affiliated with the local labor organization Stand Up KC who’ve photographed their daily lives to help promote the cause. An exhibit of those photographs, “I, Too, Am America,” is on display at Kansas City’s Talk Shop Gallery through May 31.

Dallas Winters, Church's Chicken, “Eviction.”


Casara Martin, Burger King, “Three generations, one room.”


Lindsey Zimmerman, Subway, “Empty, No money, no food.”


See More.

___________________________

This shouldn't happen in America.

[Cali_Democrat]

1. The Republican response: get a job you lazy welfare bums!

Ugh.

The American people are essentially subsiding corporations who pay their workers peanuts because many of those same workers still need govt benefits to survive.

[Agschmid]

2. I've been there, I know how hard it was to overcome this period of my life.

I don't have kids, and I can't imagine doing what I did with kids.

[MaggieD]

8. Good decision not to have kids at that point

I went through the same two jobs to get by scenario when I was younger. It sucks. Being poor was the hardest "job" I ever had. And it was definitely a job!

I can't imagine I could have ever crawled out of that if I had kids on top of that.

[Agschmid]

10. Probably never going to have kids, so for me personally it wasn't challenging...

for others it's unfair to ask them to make that choice sometimes.

[MaggieD]

12. Well I made a conscious decision to wait

Because I just couldn't afford them. Never could have got myself through college and worked two jobs and had kids. No judgement on others that make a different decision - just saying it would have toppled my climb out of poverty.

[redruddyred]

17. I made that choice

and often feel that it was unfair

[maddiemom]

68. I think many in the U.S. are better informed and better educated than they

were before the last Great Depression, although Fox "News" addiction is a major problem for those not paying attention when taught about critical thinking. Those who were, see the faults in Dem candidates, as well. It's a slow process, but you seldom see poor families with innumerable kids today. Sadly even one or two children are too many to afford for even some of the college educated now.. But Wait! So many Republican politicians rail against, not only abortion, but birth control, which I thought was accepted decades ago by all but the Catholics, officially. Unofficially I have never known a Catholic who didn't wink at that restriction in modern times. Then, cuts in education in our schools and out of reach college tuition...what could be better : Ignorant and misinformed voters ...Bliss to the Republicans! The saddest thing is there really wasn't so much difference between the parties forty or so years ago. Repubs still had ideas then, and Dems weren't drifting toward the right or wimping out.

[muntrv]

16. I thought the response is "those jobs are for high schoolers."

[Spitfire of ATJ]

20. EXACTLY. They claim these are kids living at home.

[ZX86]

22. I heard that nonsense today.

"These are entry level jobs so teenagers will learn how to work". You see employers are doing you a favor by under paying you because you're young and too stupid to know how to flip a hamburger without being ripped off for your labor first.

I hate these greedy, evil f*cks! If they can charge me $2.00 or more for a bag of f*ckin' french fries they can afford to pay the person
frying them $15.00 an hour. What's a basket full of potato cost? 25 cents? How much do they sell that same basket of potatoes? Fifty to sixty dollars or so. Ugh!

[drmeow]

27. There are a few things I really hate about this argument

The first is that the underlying message is that it is OK to pay young workers less for their labor - just because they are younger. BS! Doing a task should be worth a certain value regardless of your age. An 18 year old who has been flipping burgers for a year should make the same amount of money as a 35 year old who has been flipping burgers for a year - and it should be a living wage for both of them!

The second is that high schoolers should earn less at those jobs because they are working fewer hours because school takes up their time not because their pay rate is lower.

The third is that I worked at a fast food restaurant in HS and at that time I was paid a much more living wage so what has changed now other than the greed of fast food restaurant owners?

[Of course, I was fired right before I was due for a raise - I was too naive to realize that the whole firing was BS but also didn't really care - I was planning to give my notice in 2 weeks anyway - but my manager was in tears over having to fire me cause I was his best worker.]

[malthaussen]

29. No, no, the response is:

"See? They have a refrigerator!" (pic 3)

-- Mal

[Helen Borg]

65. Yup...

[Cal Carpenter]

3. Well, maybe they shouldn't waste their money on frivolous things like

cribs and bedsheets.

(Just trying to get in ahead of the assholes )

[Agschmid]

4. Maybe this time they won't come...

But yet even here on DU, it will happen.

[daleanime]

11. It's depressing how true that is.....

[Starry Messenger]

5. K&R

[Liberal_in_LA]

6. kick

[hifiguy]

7. Dickens' London is the plutocrats' utopia.

Fuck them all with red-hot pokers.

[Thespian2]

9. K & R

I understand...I had a few really down years when I was younger...but, sadly, for people today...this is a way of life...

Too many Repukians seem to live with one mantra..."I've got mine...Fuck you!"

[MaggieD]

13. That's the difference now

The exits to poverty are fewer and far between.

[SammyWinstonJack]

46. Actually, it's " I' ve got mine and I am taking yours and Fuck you."

[Thespian2]

73. How right you are!

I need to update that old saying...yours fits much better...Thanks...

[Dont call me Shirley]

14. The rich psychopaths think of us as nonhuman and expendable. The rich suck...........

the life out of the rest of us. This despicable inequity must be righted. It's time now to dismantle the fucked up system they have created to benefit only them. It is now time to create a real system of equality for all, including all inhabitants of earth.

Stop the raping and pillaging of the earth by the bloated rich. Time to end their gravy train.

[NBachers]

21. We are nothing but lifetimes to be harvested 'till we can't produce any more assets.

[Dont call me Shirley]

28. We are more than that. They, the-rich-abusive-controller-bullies, have us believing we are worthless

Time to quit the abusers. Time to leave them. Time to sever the relationship. Time to create a new world devoid of this abusive system.

[MillennialDem]

43. We need a communist revolution. It happened in Russia in 1917, France in 1789, and England in 1649.

It will happen in America, it's just a question of 3 years from now or 30 years from now or 300 years from now.

[Dont call me Shirley]

45. We need a revolution of equality, justice, respect and uplift for all, not some political ideology.

[hifiguy]

47. Exactly, Human rights, including economic rights miles

before property/money rights. Democratic socialism fills the bill nicely.

[MillennialDem]

50. That's what it is.

[Dont call me Shirley]

60. Sadly for most, that word comes with a twisted bastardized negative alternate meaning.

So either we need to find a new word or just use the four (or add more) that I used which still contain positive energy.

We must create a progressive version of Luntzian terminology that can catch on with the masses. Soundbytes, positive imagery with a short set (2-3) of words, when you think of a good soundbyte -post it - get it circulating

Liberal means Free, #workers matter, etc

[Goblinmonger]

54. I've always thought our revolution was nonviolent in the 20s

and happened because of Unions.

Now unions are getting busted and going away. Perhaps that will mean another revolution will be coming.

[On the Road]

80. Wouldn't You Have Enjoyed Living Those Countries

in the years immediately following those events?

[taught_me_patience]

59. Not a lot of people think that way and your view of the rich is way off

First off, wages are mostly set by the market and most businesses are price takers in the market for labor. There is no glee when someone is in a tough situation. I know a lot of business owners, and NOBODY takes laying off workers happily.

[Long Drive]

62. A lot of people think that way

Your view is WAY OFF, thanks for chiming in for the 1%. Take your business owners and.....have a GREAT DAY!!!

[Dont call me Shirley]

63. The system with which this world functions was created by the rich ruling elite.

Wages are set by human beings, mainly rich human beings, not some invisible fantasy marketplace.

Businesses are Price-takers, businesses who pay low wages are wage thieves - stealing people's precious life energy. So yeah maybe Wage-taker is a better term to describe many businesses.

"Nobody takes laying off workers happily", except the stockholders.

Many people have the very same views as I of the rich. The rich are the takers, stingy, misers who truly believe they deserve more than others. They are poisoning our world and ruining our environment. They bully, cheat, steal, hate and lie. If your rich buddies aren't really like this they would be actively fighting against the bad reputation their "class" is creating.

[Cleita]

70. I remember when one could live on minimum wage, not in luxury but

not in dire need either. But back then the wage was set by the law to meet a living wage requirement and more than forty hours a week got you time and a half. Businesses did fine. It's the cost of product and competition that sets the price of things, not wages in the real world. Your views come from the imaginary spreadsheet world.

[taught_me_patience]

85. My post was mostly not about the minimum wage

Rather, it was disputing the (somewhat) common notion here on DU that the rich are some psychopathic deranged people that take glee when others suffer or that they love to destroy the earth. When people start talking like that, it really cheapens their argument and makes them sound like sour grapes, honestly.

On the price taking issue, if you were running a restaurant and competing against others that pay $9-10/hr, how can you pay $15 and remain competitive? You are a price taker in the market... it's impossible to pay more even if you wanted to.

[Cleita]

86. I used to run a restaurant and I paid my employees more than minimum

wage at that time and I gave them full time work whereas other restaurants would send them home on a slow day. As a result, I had employees who stayed with me for years in a business where there was a very fast turnover. I also made a profit and was in business for a decade when an unforeseen tragedy forced me to sell the business and get out of it.

You see I know that with a good business model and managment, you can pay your employees a decent living wage and still be profitable. It's just greed that puts profits on the backs of the poor.

[WillyT]

15. Huge K & R !!! - Thank You !!!

[redruddyred]

18. what you see here, ladies and gentlemen

is american slavery part due
do notice the race of the various photographed persons.

[Agschmid]

25. I sure see a trend.

[valerief]

19. This is the stuff asshole Republicans jerk off to. Sick bastards. nt

[Elwood P Dowd]

24. True, except republicans have to use tweezers and a magnifying glass. (nm)

[Enthusiast]

23. Kicked and recommended a whole bunch!

[Gumboot]

26. The third-worlding of America continues.

Sickening that this is how so many of us 'live' these days. Busting our asses in miserable dead-end jobs for 50+ hours a week, and still not getting by.

Reminded me of this cartoon I saw a while ago...

[The2ndWheel]

32. Our population is that of a developing country

But we have the economy of a developed country. It's an interesting mix.

The next closest developed country would I guess be Russia, the 9th largest population, and we have well over twice the population they do. After that it's Japan, with I think the oldest population on the planet, I believe a restrictive immigration policy, few of their own resources, and it's an island with the same land area as Zimbabwe, which has 113 million fewer people than Japan. It's only when you get down to Germany, with 81 million people, that you start to see more of the developed world in terms of population. And Germany is a huge exporter, which is one reason why a place like Greece has as many issues as it does. The German economy hangs over so much of Europe, that all those smaller countries there have economic issues.

What I'm saying is there are so many people in America, that not all of us are needed, in an economic sense. You want to determine value, it's pretty much based on need. Not only are there 300+ million people in this country, but it's a global economy, where jobs can be done anywhere, by anyone, and increasingly by any thing(automation). Americans just aren't special. Back in the 50's, when unions were at their strongest in this country, Americans were needed. At least white males anyway. That's not the case anymore. White males aren't needed like they once were, and Americans in general are just another person on the planet.

[Rolando]

61. Back in the 1950s,

we had Eisenhower's Universal Military Training (draft in peacetime) to take young males out of the workforce. It was cheap: about $88 a month. Of course, you got room (with a bunch of other guys), board (such as it was, often SOS), and rudimentary, inconsistent medical care. If anything went seriously wrong with your health (physical or mental), you lost your job (discharged). Tell me about those days.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

77. After he got out of the Army, Dad used to fix

SOS off and on. I actually liked it quite a bit. Certainly more than the fried spam with bone shards from the 'mechanical separators'.

[Lizzie Poppet]

30. Oh, but they just need to "work harder and develop more marketable skills."

In other words, burn the candle at both ends working and going to school at the same time and go deeply into debt for an absurdly overpriced degree so they can compete to get one of those better-paying jobs (each of which has several hundred applicants).

[Marr]

31. These are the 'new jobs' NAFTA fans are crowing about.

A person who, at one time, would've supported a family on one job, now has to work three.

Talk about growth!

[LynneSin]

33. If one opposes Government Programs like SNAP, Medicare, and other programs for the poor....

then one CANNOT oppose increasing the minimum wage to $15/hour.

How someone can want to cut help for the poor then insist these people can survive on $7.25 an hour (or even less if we banish minimum wage) is just disgusting.

[JustAnotherGen]

92. plus 1000 n/t

[tosh]

34. Ronald Reagan and Maggie Thatcher

must be grinning down in hell.

This is the service economy that they worked so hard to achieve.

[hifiguy]

48. The poor "service" the rich.

Now bend over, poor person.

[rhett o rick]

35. This shouldn't be happening in America but will continue unless we make some drastic

changes. What you see here is the dream of the Oligarchs like Goldman-Sachs and the big bankers. It's not personal it's just capitalism. If those represented by the pictures you see have any money at all, the Oligarchs want it, the Wall Street billionaires want it. And if you vote to continue the status quo, apparently you want it also.

One thing the pictures don't show is the momentum of this movement into poverty. It's a by-product of rule by Oligarchy. The Oligarchy will try to buy the next elections with billions. Why would a Democrat side with the billionaires?

Sen Sanders has an uphill fight to help those represented by the pictures here. Please, please support the people's candidate and not candidates that will continue to give Goldman-Sacs and friends huge tax breaks and subsidies and support the costly wars in the middle east.

[AZ Progressive]

37. This is also the result of the Democratic Party failing to protect the people from the oligarchs

Because party members decided that they'd rather join them than try to beat them.

[rhett o rick]

38. Sadly some people want life to be easy so they think that Republcons are bad

and Democrats are good. That's as far as they want to think. For that reason it's logical that the Oligarchs with their unlimited wealth would coopt the Democratic Party machine. It just takes money. Sadly there are Democrats that have complained about Citizens United that now are ok with it if it helps their candidate. They are apparently blind to the fact that the Oligarchs aren't going to pay $2,000,000,000 (that's 2 Billion) for Democratic principles. This is capitalism folks, it's an investment.

Poverty rates are increasing, more and more people are losing their homes, jobs and retirements. It will continue to get worse if the Oligarchs have their way (it's not personal, it's just capitalism).

"The Oligarchs don't wish us to die, they just don't care if we do."

Please support Sen Sanders, the candidate for the people.

[Agschmid]

40. Were you trying to see how many times you could say...

Oligarch?

[rhett o rick]

51. Some one has to say it. Denial is what's killing us. nm

[rhett o rick]

56. I am sure you are familiar with the Princeton Study that concluded that

we no longer live in a constitutionally controlled democratic republic but an oligarchy. Personally I think we live in a Plutocratic Oligarchy, but if I'd have used that you would really have complained I assume.

The Plutocratic Oligarchy will raise it's monstrous head and prove it's existence when it spends $2 BILLION to ensure the "election" of H. Clinton. They will be spending that kind of money because it's been proven to be effective and they will expect quid pro quo. They consider it an investment.

[raouldukelives]

42. It isn't capitalism. It is inverted or corporate socialism.

Nobody defending this system is defending capitalism. I'm pretty confident this is pretty far from what Adam Smith had in mind.
I actually kinda think capitalism might work if we wanted to try it again. Small business actually meaning a small business. A regrowth of Mom & Pop stores, revitalized neighborhoods. When the people who own the business live in the vicinity of the business they take care of the area around them, they take pride in it, or at least, more pride than a million nameless owners in a hundred different countries.

[hifiguy]

49. The neo-liberal economic system of Raygun and Thatcher is

actually simple to explain.

Endless socialism for the rich, the sharpest possible screw of capitalism straight up the ass for everyone else.

[rhett o rick]

53. I don't entirely agree. Capitalism and it's innate quest for power will also kill the wealthy.

The big fish eat the smaller fish until there are no more fish.

[hifiguy]

55. I agree, in the long term.

The contradictions of capitalism described by Marx (and to some degree updated by Thomas Piketty) are what they are and their logic has no stopping point before self-immolation and complete societal meltdown.

The question is whether there is anything to do to stop if before it reaches the terminal stage, which is fast approaching.

I don't see how it can be done without a violent revolution, which needless to say has immense problems of its own. The oil companies, banksters/financiers and MIC run the country and probably 80% of the politicians at every level above the municipal, and will fight to the death, at least the death of the people, not themselves, to hold on to their dominance. Add an idiot, easily manipulated and propagandized populace and religulous insanity, which lead the sheeple to support their oppressors unthinkingly, and the picture is awfully grim.

[rhett o rick]

52. The problem is that capitalism will grow to the point that it self destructs.

You suggest we try again. First of all if we could wave a wand and start over we would evolve where we are today. In a system where profits rule, all else falls by the wayside. We couldn't stop Walmart the first time, how would we stop it the second time? Taking pride in you neighborhood isn't part of capitalism. Secondly, how can we go back?

[raouldukelives]

71. I'm not convinced it would. Bear in mind I mean classic Adam Smith Capitalism.

So we would eliminate monopolies, break up big banks, end fiat money and impose the staunchest regulations for protecting labor and ensuring trust in the marketplace.

People do take more pride in the work they do when they own the work they do. That is all I mean by neighborhood pride. Without Walmarts and with locally owned markets, locally owned clothing shops, locally owned banks and economies, I fully believe it would create a better environment for everyone.

It's not like it would ever happen anyway. But it is far more likely to occur in my mind than ushering in a brand new socialist economy. My point being nobody defending our current system is anyone Adam Smith had in mind and in fact, would probably detest. They are not defending Capitalism. They are defending corporate socialism.

[rhett o rick]

72. I don't think Adam Smith could recognize how greed would ruin his capitalism. I support controling

monopolies, breaking up the big banks, but that isn't capitalism.

[raouldukelives]

81. As he imagined it, it was. But what you say is certainly true. Greed rewrote the rules.

Which begs the question, if one rewrites the rules, is it still the same game?

[rhett o rick]

82. You mean if they raise the pitchers mound is it still baseball? I am afraid so. nm

[raouldukelives]

83. Sort of. More like chess where you aren't allowed to put your opponents king in check.

And your pawns are on their side.

[rhett o rick]

84. Yep! And your bishops are on their side. Just sayin'. nm

[niyad]

36. k and r

[War Horse]

39. K&R

Both for the OP/photo essay and several of the comments on this thread.

[KamaAina]

41. Maybe Mona could create fusion fast food

Big Mac with tots, anyone?

Hey, anything to get her out of this damn mess.

[Stryst]

44. And SSID is even worse

There is nowhere in this country you can live for $556 a month with no way to raise it.

[historylovr]

57. K & R

For the overburdened and exploited and vastly underpaid.

[HughBeaumont]

58. PFFFFFFFFFFFT. Typical.

They're not eating bugs or living in a mud hovel. They have refrigerators. They're not really POOR.

Geez, why can't they do what I did . . .. work harder and harder and harder and get an education or start their own business?? And don't give me this nonsense that you need cash or credit to do either one, because neither are necessary!

If I can get out of poverty . . . and I guarantee you that I had it WAY WORSE than anyone on Earth . . . ANYone can!

You raise the minimum wage, and businesses will just pass the costs on to their customers . . . a Big Mac will end up costing $17 and bread will be $20!!

I mean, why don't we just raise it to $100 or $200 or $1000 dollars an hour fer flippin' burgers? Where does it stop??

There's no such thing as bad luck. There's no such thing as privilege. There's no such thing as a "fair share". There's only opportunity that you didn't have the foresight to take and you're just crying "sour grapes" for being plain and simple LOSERS in the economic game in life.

[marle35]

88. Yep. And the "Why not raise it to $1,000/hr" argument

is also an example of the Continuum Fallacy.

[HockeyMom]

64. I didn't make $15/hour as a Public School Special Needs TA

I worked in both NY and Florida, which both required that I have at least an Associates Degree. I believe the starting salary was around $11/hour. With 10 years experience in Florida I was making $14/hour, plus paying around $350/month for health insurance just for myself. Without my husband's salary, I could never have survived on that with the COL in both Naples or LI.

I do feel for these fast food workers, but what happens to those workers in other fields making just a few dollars an hour more, AND which requires college degrees and skills? Would they go up also?

It is all about 2015 COL. I more than survived living alone in the 1970's NYC on $8/hour. My rent was $200 a month. Is there ANYWHERE in the US where you can find a nice apartment, let alone in NYC, for that today?

The bottom line is that wages are stagnant, or even going DOWN, today in comparison to decades ago.

[imnew]

66. There's car mechanics who work for dealerships not making $15.00 an hour

Some of these guys have a 2 year tech degree

[HockeyMom]

67. My point exactly

Would these other workers have their wages go up also in comparison or would they be making the same as low skilled fast food workers too?

It requires far more skills to be a car mechanic or teach an Autistic child than to say, "Can I take your order?". Those jobs would have to pay MORE than that $15/hour Fast Food Worker.

[My Good Babushka]

78. Yes

Jobs that pay more than minimum wage would have to pay even more to keep skilled workers. That is how upward pressure on wages work, you need a robust floor, under which you will not allow any workers to fall beneath.

[Joe the Revelator]

87. Serious Question: If thats the case, wouldn't inequality still exsist, just at different salaries?

Wouldn't the cost of everything go up in comparison, so that making $15 an hour tomorrow would be like making $8 an hour today?

[My Good Babushka]

90. No

There is so much space between the low end and the high end of salaries, not everything will go up proportionately. The people making more than the median wage are not suddenly going to be tempted to take minimum wage jobs, so the impetus for wage adjustment will fade farther up the pay scale. Labor is, right now, such a small slice of business spending that most places spend more on marketing and things like stock buy-backs, which delivers huge sums to shareholders and nothing for labor. There is a lot of room for re-balancing labor in the equation with minimal impact on prices.

[ileus]

79. and they can't take an order...

[Ed Suspicious]

69. Look at that refrigerator! With amenities like that, our poor truly are the envy of the world!

[midnight]

74. kick

[HelenWheels]

75. Picture of refrigerator very sad

Makes me ashamed of all I have in my fridge.

[Agschmid]

76. Don't be ashamed just do what you can to help.

I've lived with a fridge like that, it's not easy.

[romanic]

89. It's just sad that minimum wage jobs

have become steady jobs instead. College is way too expensive to give those who need the education to make more money and not everyone is meant to work a trade either. I fully support a raise to the mini wage BUT I also believe that without addressing the inflation and rising COL in many areas around the country, raising the wage will be fruitless in the long run.

[tomsaiditagain]

91. It's a sad part of life

that is only going to become worse. The Corporate Police State is taking hold.

Bet?