Impossible to even comprehend these numbers....

[Anonymous]

No article has claimed franchise owners rake in billions. McDonald's does. McDonald's can well afford to give their franchisees more to pay their workers a living wage.



Or the company should be forced to. "If you're hungry break food into pieces"? How cruel is it going to get?



No problem paying a living wage in Canada and most other countries!

 

It's obvious that you don't get it. Unless the McDonald's location is corporate owned, the franchise owner pays his employees salaries.



BTW, don't even try to tell us that you can make a "living wage" working at McDonalds in Canada. That claim is too butt fucking naive; no stupid,  to even give more than a passing chuckle.  



Troll fail; wait NO, troll EPIC fail on that one.

You got that right Renee. In my city it is part time kids or foreign contract labour.

[Romero]

Tis the season for holiday spirit: Yule logs, egg nog, festive lights and exchanging gifts with loved ones. If you work for McDonald's, though, be sure to save those receipts.



McDonald's McResource Line, a dedicated website run by the world's largest fast-food chain to provide its 1.8 million employees with financial and health-related tips, offers a full page of advice for "Digging Out From Holiday Debt." Among their helpful holiday tips: "Selling some of your unwanted possessions on eBay or Craigslist could bring in some quick cash."



McDonald's employees are some of the most underpaid workers in the country. The company's cashiers and "team members" earn, on average, $7.75 an hour, just 50 cents higher than the federal minimum wage. Responding to rising living costs, many stores have staged walk-outs, strikes and protests, demanding a living wage. In Europe, where the minimum wage for employees is $12, customers pay just pennies more than their American counterparts for the same menu items, while the stores themselves typically bring in higher profit margins than ones in the United States.



Of course, McDonalds has shown little willingness to negotiate higher salaries for their poorest workers even as labor rights groups up the pressure. Instead, their website has another piece of advice for people who are stressed about their meager paychecks: "Quit complaining," the site suggests. "Stress hormones levels rise by 15% after 10 minutes of complaining."



http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/11/19/2970651/mcdonalds-advice-underpaid-employees-sell-christmas-presents-cash/">//http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/11/19/2970651/mcdonalds-advice-underpaid-employees-sell-christmas-presents-cash/

Geez, what's next?



"Short on cash? You could try selling drugs, or your children if you have any".

[Anonymous]

Tis the season for holiday spirit: Yule logs, egg nog, festive lights and exchanging gifts with loved ones. If you work for McDonald's, though, be sure to save those receipts.



McDonald's McResource Line, a dedicated website run by the world's largest fast-food chain to provide its 1.8 million employees with financial and health-related tips, offers a full page of advice for "Digging Out From Holiday Debt." Among their helpful holiday tips: "Selling some of your unwanted possessions on eBay or Craigslist could bring in some quick cash."



McDonald's employees are some of the most underpaid workers in the country. The company's cashiers and "team members" earn, on average, $7.75 an hour, just 50 cents higher than the federal minimum wage. Responding to rising living costs, many stores have staged walk-outs, strikes and protests, demanding a living wage. In Europe, where the minimum wage for employees is $12, customers pay just pennies more than their American counterparts for the same menu items, while the stores themselves typically bring in higher profit margins than ones in the United States.



Of course, McDonalds has shown little willingness to negotiate higher salaries for their poorest workers even as labor rights groups up the pressure. Instead, their website has another piece of advice for people who are stressed about their meager paychecks: "Quit complaining," the site suggests. "Stress hormones levels rise by 15% after 10 minutes of complaining."



http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/11/19/2970651/mcdonalds-advice-underpaid-employees-sell-christmas-presents-cash/">//http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/11/19/2970651/mcdonalds-advice-underpaid-employees-sell-christmas-presents-cash/

Geez, what's next?



"Short on cash? You could try selling drugs, or your children if you have any".

Employees under the age of 18 make 4 pounds 25 per hour at McDonald's UK. This converts to aprroximately $6.85 an hour. This is according to Mcdonald's UK's website.

[Romero]

More cruelty! Babysitter wages for doing an adult job. It's totally unfair to pay half as much for the same work.

[Anonymous]

To start, some Australians actually make less than the adult minimum wage. The country allows lower pay for teenagers, and the labor deal McDonald's struck with its employees currently pays 16-year-olds roughly US$8-an-hour, not altogether different from what they'd make in the states. In an email, Greg Bamber, a professor at Australia's Monash University who has studied labor relations in the country's fast food industry, told me that as a result, McDonald's relies heavily on young workers in Australia. It's a specific quirk of the country's wage system. But it goes to show that even in generally high-pay countries, restaurants try to save on labor where they can.



It's also possible that McDonald's keeps its prices down overseas by squeezing more productivity out of its workers. Researchers studying the impact of minimum wage increases on American fast food chains in the Deep South have found that while restaurants mostly cope by their raising prices, they also respond by handing their employees more responsibility. It stands to reason that in places like Europe and Australia, managers have found ways to get more mileage out of their staff as well.



Or if not, they've at least managed to replace a few of them with computers. As Michael Schaefer, an analyst with Euromonitor International, told me, fast food franchises in Europe have been some of the earliest adopters of touchscreen kiosks that let customers order without a cashier. As always, the peril of making employees more expensive is that machines become cheaper in comparison.



Finally, McDonald's has also helped its bottom line abroad by experimenting with higher margin menu items while trying to court more affluent customers. Way back in 1993, for instance, Australia became home to the first McCafe coffee shops, which sell highly profitable espresso drinks. During the last decade, meanwhile, the company gave its European restaurants a designer make-over and began offering more localized menus meant to draw a higher spending crowd.



So if President Obama waved a magic wand tomorrow and raised the minimum wage to $10 or $15, does this all mean that U.S. fast food chains would be able to cope? "Were that to happen overnight, it would be a hugely traumatic process," Schaefer told me. After all, virtually every fast food franchise in the country would have to rethink its business model as their profits evaporated. But as the international market shows, the models are out there. It would certainly mean more expensive burgers. It would almost definitely mean fewer workers, as restaurants found ways to streamline their staffs, either through better management or technology. And it might mean fewer chains catering to the bottom of the market.

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/08/the-magical-world-where-mcdonalds-pays-15-an-hour-its-australia/278313/">http://www.theatlantic.com/business/arc ... ia/278313/">http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/08/the-magical-world-where-mcdonalds-pays-15-an-hour-its-australia/278313/

Despite what leftist editorials like 'thinkprogress' would have the naieve believe, you cannot simply raise wages significantly and conduct business in the exact same manner. Workers would have to become more productive, there would be fewer workers/hours, menus would have to change or technology will cut down on the number of workers. Sorry tp,no easy fixes.

[Romero]

To start, some Australians actually make less than the adult minimum wage. The country allows lower pay for teenagers, and the labor deal McDonald's struck with its employees currently pays 16-year-olds roughly US$8-an-hour, not altogether different from what they'd make in the states. In an email, Greg Bamber, a professor at Australia's Monash University who has studied labor relations in the country's fast food industry, told me that as a result, McDonald's relies heavily on young workers in Australia. It's a specific quirk of the country's wage system. But it goes to show that even in generally high-pay countries, restaurants try to save on labor where they can.



It's also possible that McDonald's keeps its prices down overseas by squeezing more productivity out of its workers. Researchers studying the impact of minimum wage increases on American fast food chains in the Deep South have found that while restaurants mostly cope by their raising prices, they also respond by handing their employees more responsibility. It stands to reason that in places like Europe and Australia, managers have found ways to get more mileage out of their staff as well.



Or if not, they've at least managed to replace a few of them with computers. As Michael Schaefer, an analyst with Euromonitor International, told me, fast food franchises in Europe have been some of the earliest adopters of touchscreen kiosks that let customers order without a cashier. As always, the peril of making employees more expensive is that machines become cheaper in comparison.



Finally, McDonald's has also helped its bottom line abroad by experimenting with higher margin menu items while trying to court more affluent customers. Way back in 1993, for instance, Australia became home to the first McCafe coffee shops, which sell highly profitable espresso drinks. During the last decade, meanwhile, the company gave its European restaurants a designer make-over and began offering more localized menus meant to draw a higher spending crowd.



So if President Obama waved a magic wand tomorrow and raised the minimum wage to $10 or $15, does this all mean that U.S. fast food chains would be able to cope? "Were that to happen overnight, it would be a hugely traumatic process," Schaefer told me. After all, virtually every fast food franchise in the country would have to rethink its business model as their profits evaporated. But as the international market shows, the models are out there. It would certainly mean more expensive burgers. It would almost definitely mean fewer workers, as restaurants found ways to streamline their staffs, either through better management or technology. And it might mean fewer chains catering to the bottom of the market.

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/08/the-magical-world-where-mcdonalds-pays-15-an-hour-its-australia/278313/">http://www.theatlantic.com/business/arc ... ia/278313/">http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/08/the-magical-world-where-mcdonalds-pays-15-an-hour-its-australia/278313/

Despite what leftist editorials like 'thinkprogress' would have the naieve believe, you cannot simply raise wages significantly and conduct business in the exact same manner. Workers would have to become more productive, there would be fewer workers/hours, menus would have to change or technology will cut down on the number of workers. Sorry tp,no easy fixes.

Of course they're trying to save on labour. They don't necessarily have to, they're just trying to squeeze out as much money as they can. Workers shouldn't have to suffer for greed. They're the ones helping companies make those high profits.



McDonald's in Canada and other countries pay at least $10/hour and still highly profit, so the argument that it can't be done in the States is completely bogus. Minimum wage in Washington state is $9.19/hour and it has worked out just fine.

[Obvious Li]

Homy...you silly fucker......last i heard applying for a job was voluntary....if you don't like the salary being offered......look somewhere else.....now stop being so fucking stupid about this

[Romero]

?

Minimum wage should be a minimum $15/hour for any job...we just need to be willing to pay for the increase in cost in goods and services that will result......very minimum, i suggest.

I believe it's a different situation in the US. In Canada the lowest minimum wage is $9.95/hour but in the US it's only $7.25/hour. Minimum wage in the US shouldn't be lower than what it was in 1968(adjusted into today's dollars). The big fast food companies are raking in billions while their workers are forced to go on food stamps and other assistance. It costs American taxpayers billions every year. Corporate welfare.



I don't think it should be raised to $15/hour though. It should be raised to at least $10/hour for now.

get with with program homy....$15/hr = approximately $2500 per mo........almost pushes you into survival if you watch your pennies.......who can survive at $10 per hr. these days.....

[Obvious Li]

that was a sad sad effort at trolling......i should delete those posts from the ethternet for ever........now answer the question

[Romero]

What question?

[Anonymous]

Of course they're trying to save on labour. They don't necessarily have to, they're just trying to squeeze out as much money as they can. Workers shouldn't have to suffer for greed. They're the ones helping companies make those high profits.



McDonald's in Canada and other countries pay at least $10/hour and still highly profit, so the argument that it can't be done in the States is completely bogus. Minimum wage in Washington state is $9.19/hour and it has worked out just fine.

You don't that, you are completely making it up. You don't know what their cost structure is or how much they charge for each menu item or how many employees each McDonald's franchise employs and whether they are full time or part time. The menu prices are different as well(different even within the USA), so nobody can claim they can just raise wages without changes in all these other areas.



Franchisees are are hard working people with their entire life's savings tied up in these little businesses. They don't have the freedom to just walk away for something better like the kids that work for them do. Why should their families suffer just so some politician can pander to voters just out of high school.

[Romero]

I don't know how I could be making it up. The lowest minimum wage in Canada is $9.95 and McDonald's Canada is highly profitable. It's the same in many other countries.

[Anonymous]

I don't know how I could be making it up. The lowest minimum wage in Canada is $9.95 and McDonald's Canada is highly profitable. It's the same in many other countries.

European and Australian franchisees had to become more productive per worker, reduce the number of employees, sell more expensive menu items plus raise their prices to accommodate higher wage costs and so will American franchisees. Obongo doesn`t care if mom and pop businesses go broke, it`s not his life`s savings.

[Renee]

I don't know how I could be making it up. The lowest minimum wage in Canada is $9.95 and McDonald's Canada is highly profitable. It's the same in many other countries.

European and Australian franchisees had to become more productive per worker, reduce the number of employees, sell more expensive menu items plus raise their prices to accommodate higher wage costs and so will American franchisees. Obongo doesn`t care if mom and pop businesses go broke, it`s not his life`s savings.

Romero is also turning a blind eye to the fact that the poor in the U.S. use fast food as a staple in their diet. If McDonalds were to raise wages and pass that increased cost on to the consumer what does he think it means for the poor?



He doesn't get it because like most progs reality is something to be ignored in favor of their ideology.

[Romero]

If we give the poor a living wage, they will suffer!



Yeah, right. You lost the argument before it even started. McDonald's pays its workers at least $10/hour in Canada and other countries and still highly profits.



Progressive ideology? The minimum wage was raised three times under George W. Bush, in 2007, 2008 and 2009. It's supposed to increase over the years.