By John W. Lillpop
Poorly paid employees at McDonald’s and other chains that specialize in low-end products have become more assertive in demanding a $15 minimum wage in exchange for their low-skill labor.
Unfortunately for the poorly paid, the market for their services has deteriorated significantly in recent quarters which may ultimately result in fewer jobs at any wage!
McDonald’s fast food has been hit particularly hard as reported:
The chain has posted three consecutive quarter of negative comparable-store sales for its domestic restaurants, and unless it comes through with a 1 percent uptake in June, this will be quarter number four.
Some suggest that a key reason diners are defecting is McDonald’s failure to give a sympathetic ear to the fast-food labor movement's vocal push for a $15 an hour wage -- a change that would roughly double its current base wage for front-line employees. Earlier this month, Reuters specifically pinned McDonald's recent stateside struggles on "internal missteps that have slowed service and image-denting protests from its minimum-wage workers."
But there's also the dovetailing issue of deteriorating customer service. A year ago, McDonald's hosted a web cast with franchisees on rising complaints about employee friendliness. One in every five gripes being filed was related to unfriendly employees. And a recent magazine study around the same time showed that waits for drive-through orders were on average nearly a minute longer than waits at rival chains.”
In addition, the American consuming public will most assuredly balk at the notion of paying dramatically higher amounts of money for products with little or no added value.
In fact, raising the minimum wage at places like McDonald’s could very well be the final blow to the struggling fast-food industry.
Americans will simply refuse need to fork out $15, or more, for lunch just to coddle those without the talent and or initiative to secure the skills needed to compete in a free market economy.
After all, despite the best efforts of Marxists like Obama, Pelosi, and Reid, this is STILL America and competition, not big socialist government, rules the markets.
