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Strike spotlights fast-food wages (Time to stand up for low-wage workers)
On May 10, some of the lowest-paid, least-respected workers in Metro Detroit stood up for themselves by going on strike.
The fast-food workers who staged a one-day walk-out almost certainly did not expect employers to quickly grant them their requested $15-per-hour wage. But the strikers brought needed attention to the plight of low-wage workers in Michigan – and elsewhere. Good for them.
It is easy for people to ridicule “losers” who do hard, dirty jobs at $7.40 per hour. Since the strike, I have heard and read a lot of that. Here at The Detroit News, a number of online comments were supportive of the strike, but most expressed some combination of amusement, anger or disgust.
Much of the derision — on the News website and elsewhere — stemmed from a mistaken belief that fast-food jobs are for high-school kids who want to earn pocket money. Other people coolly responded that, if workers are earning $7.40 per hour in a free market, that must be what they are worth. Still other comments were not worth mentioning.
More here: http://blogs.detroitnews.com/politics/2013/05/13/strike-raise-fast-food-wages/
The fast-food workers who staged a one-day walk-out almost certainly did not expect employers to quickly grant them their requested $15-per-hour wage. But the strikers brought needed attention to the plight of low-wage workers in Michigan – and elsewhere. Good for them.
It is easy for people to ridicule “losers” who do hard, dirty jobs at $7.40 per hour. Since the strike, I have heard and read a lot of that. Here at The Detroit News, a number of online comments were supportive of the strike, but most expressed some combination of amusement, anger or disgust.
Much of the derision — on the News website and elsewhere — stemmed from a mistaken belief that fast-food jobs are for high-school kids who want to earn pocket money. Other people coolly responded that, if workers are earning $7.40 per hour in a free market, that must be what they are worth. Still other comments were not worth mentioning.
More here: http://blogs.detroitnews.com/politics/2013/05/13/strike-raise-fast-food-wages/
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