Over the past few years, protests have been held by fast food\/limited service restaurant employees fighting for the rights to not only earn a minimum wage, which the current federal wage is $7.25 an hour, but to earn what they consider a \u201cliving wage.\u201d This is known as the \u201cFight for $15\u201d or \u201cFast Food Forward\u201d campaign. By definition, a living wage is a wage that is high enough to maintain a normal standard of living.<\/p>\n
According to The Daily Caller, \u201csupporters of the $15 minimum wage often argue it will help the poor and stimulate economic activity.\u201d Many even mention former President Bill Clinton\u2019s success with the minimum wage increase as an example, but what they don\u2019t realize is that it was only a $0.90 increase across the nation in stages compared to what some cities and states will be experiencing at a $7 increase (Inquisitr.com).<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Is More Really Better? <\/span><\/p>\n Last month, RestaurantNews.com released information on a study performed by Purdue University\u2019s School of Hospitality and Tourism Management. The results of the study concluded that \u201craising wages to $15 an hour for limited-service restaurant employees would lead to an estimated 4.3% increase in prices at those restaurants.\u201d<\/p>\n The study further states, \u201cIn order to compensate for higher wages, prices would have to increase between 4% and 25% and\/or product size would have to be scaled back between 12% and 70%.\u201d If you were complaining about prices and portion sizes now, then I would start to reconsider.<\/p>\n Another argument against a nationwide minimum wage hike is that not all cities and states should be treated the same. An article by Slate.com states, \u201cIn New York and San Francisco, $15 really translates to $12 and change, once you take cost of living into account. In Beckley, West Virginia, where cash stretches furthest, it\u2019s worth $19.64.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Cities and States<\/span><\/p>\n In spring 2014, Seattle voted for the $15 minimum wage increase with a proposal to increase the city\u2019s minimum wage from $9.32 to $15 over the next few years. Recently, The Daily Caller stated that from an American Enterprise Institute (AEI) report, \u201cthe $15 minimum wage has caused Seattle restaurants to lose 1,000 jobs \u2013 the worst decline since the 2009 Great Recession.\u201d The city only just increased the minimum wage to $11 in April 2015.<\/p>\n In November 2014, San Francisco workers voted for a minimum wage increase from $10.74 to $15 by 2018, and in May 2014, the city of Los Angeles lifted the minimum wages from $9 to $15 by 2020. According to Slate.com, workers will be earning $10.50 per hour starting next year. Now, it\u2019s the state of New York\u2019s turn.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A Plea from the Restaurant Industry<\/span><\/p>\n Since NY\u2019s acting labor commissioner, Mario Musolino, formed a wage board to recommend new minimum wage requirements without any restaurant operators or restaurant industry professionals from the National Restaurant Association (NRA) or New York State Restaurant Association (NYSRA), the restaurant industry in NY immediately became unhinged. How can a three member board make drastic decisions without the input of the professionals who work within the restaurant industry?<\/p>\n On August 7th<\/sup>, Nation\u2019s Restaurant News (NRN) released an article encouraging its readers to \u201ctell New York\u2019s labor commissioner to reject a $15 minimum wage for fast-food-employers.\u201d The article continues to state that the Save New York Restaurants<\/a> coalition, which includes the NRA and NYSRA, is urging all restaurant operators to speak up about the \u201cpressure a $15 minimum wage will put on their businesses and the unfairness of targeting a single industry.\u201d<\/p>\n Additionally, the Fast Food Wage Board filed its report, which includes the list of 137 brands that have been targeted for the $15 minimum wage increase, with NY\u2019s Department of Labor. The list is \u201cnot an exclusive or final list\u201d of 137 brands that have been loosely defined as fast food establishments with 30 or more locations nationwide as of 2014. (Download the list here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Due to the wide variety of restaurants on the list, NRN\u2019s article stated that the \u201cboard intended to cast a wide net\u201d over these loosely defined \u201cfast-food\u201d establishments, which included brands like Chipotle<\/strong>, California Pizza Kitchen<\/strong>, Five Guys,\u00a0 Chuck E. Cheese\u2019s<\/strong>, Papa John\u2019s<\/strong>, and Buffalo Wild Wings<\/strong>.\u00a0 Proving the wide net theory to be true, Chain Store Guide\u2019s definition of fast food\/quick service does not include brands like Buffalo Wild Wings, California Pizza Kitchen, and Chuck E. Cheese\u2019s, but rather files them under the casual dining sector. These locations may have a somewhat limited menu, but that\u2019s a far cry from considering them \u201cfast-food.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What\u2019s Going to Happen Next?<\/span><\/p>\n As cities and states continue disputes about the minimum wage hike, companies across the U.S. are scrambling to find solutions of their own. New York-based Shake Shack<\/strong> announced that the company is raising its minimum wage pay at its four Washington D.C. restaurants to $12 an hour. In order to stay ahead of the minimum wage increase, Shake Shack has been able to raise \u201cmenu prices 6 percent in recent quarters\u201d (NRN).<\/p>\n Another company whose name is in a headline at least once a week is McDonald\u2019s<\/strong>. The rumor mill stated, in a recent Inquisitr.com article, that McDonald\u2019s \u201cis countering the mandating of a $15 minimum wage\u201d increase by \u201cflirting with the idea of automatic cashier machines, similar to the automatic check-out machines found in some grocery and retail stores such as Walmart.\u201d (If you haven\u2019t seen the company\u2019s newest machine, you can check it out here<\/a>.) Making a point that no one can disagree with, the article continues to state that \u201ca machine will never ask for an increase to a living wage \u2013 or any wage, for that matter.\u201d Although the rumors have not been verified as true, it\u2019s hard to not think this could be a possibility in the future.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Over the past few years, protests have been held by fast food\/limited service restaurant employees fighting for the rights to not only earn a minimum wage, which the current federal wage is $7.25 an hour, but to earn what they consider a \u201cliving wage.\u201d This is known as the \u201cFight for $15\u201d or \u201cFast Food… Continue reading Fight-or-Flight for $15<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"post-template-no-sidebar.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-5221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-restaurant-foodservice","tag-insight","entry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5221\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}