McDonald’s CEO Says the Company Pays ‘Fair’ Wages

[SevenSixtyTwo]

38. Unfortunately,

that's the truth of how businesses maximize profits. Imagine if you were a McDonalds franchise owner in your neighborhood hoping to bring in the average $128k a year in profits for your investment and efforts. You would likely want to pay your employees a decent wage as you seem like a good and fair guy. However, going from $7.25 an hour to $15 an hour for your hourly employees could cut your profits in half or more. Then toss in the occasional corporate mandated upgrades to the building and property among other things. For $60k a year or less you'd likely close up and take your business expertise to a more profitable position somewhere else. You could raise prices on your products but prices are already pushing the limits of what people will pay for fast food. It's not as simple as it seems. The best the employees could do is bargain collectively and realistically for the best wages they can get all things considered. But that could scare the franchise owner into closing shop at the mere thought of a union workforce. Fast food is not a really lucrative business at the local level.