It’s nothing new that fast food employees haven’t exactly received proper pay in recent years — or ever, for that matter. Critics of these fast food chains have been pushing for better boosts and benefits for minimum ?wage employees.
And now, the father of the Big Mac is raising wages for 90,000 of its hard-working slaves — er, employees — ?according to the Hill.
In February, Wal-Mart announced it would increase the hourly pay for half a million of its employees to $9 an hour, according to the New York Times. Just a week after our nation’s largest private employer made this announcement, TJMaxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods followed suit. The companies promised to increase pay to at least $9 an hour ?in June.
Currently, the federal minimum wage is set at $7.25 per hour.
Beginning July 1, McDonald’s is also hopping on board. The company plans to raise pay by one whole dollar above the current minimum wage requirements for its corporate-owned restaurants. That’s four quarters, people.
We’re talking big money here.
McDonald’s Chief Executive Steve Easterbrook described the move as ?“a comprehensive benefits package.”
We call it a good move, just not ?good enough. Though the heart attack-inducing and artery-clogging food chain has struggled with declining sales in recent years, the wage increase will apply to about 10 percent of the McDonald’s restaurants nationwide.
Considering this is McDonald’s we are talking about, our expectations at the Editorial Board are not particularly high.
Though our confidence in McDonald’s is low, we of the Editorial Board also feel this move is a positive one for our standards of the company. However, we also believe Mr. Ronald McDonald should put more pressure on ?his franchises.
McDonald’s is the world’s largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. In 2014, the chain had 14,350 restaurants in the United States alone. It had 36,258 restaurants worldwide.
That’s a whole lotta McLovin’.
McDonald’s also said it would be expanding educational programs for eligible employees. This will affect about 750,000 workers in both corporate-owned and franchised restaurants with free high school completion and college tuition assistance.
Though these decisions are certainly in the right direction for this ?corporation, many critics feel it is just not enough. Mary Kay Henry, international president of the Service Employees International Union, agrees. “Today, workers proved that by joining together, they can improve their lives,” she said. “McDonald’s was forced to pay up, but it’s not nearly enough.”
Also, this raise would only benefit 90,000 of the workers McDonald’s owns and operates. Let us not forget about those other 750,000 employees who work for franchises, according to the New York Times.
These hard-working and deserving employees will see an increase in pay of exactly $0.00. And even for those this pay increase will apply to, not much will actually change for them. Ashley Wiley, an employee of a corporate-owned McDonald’s, will see an increase of 56 cents to her $9.19-per-hour paycheck.
“It’s not making a difference in my life at all,” she said. Wiley, 26, also relies on food stamps and Medicaid to ?support her three sons.
Wiley and many others plan to join thousands of other like-minded fast food and retail workers April 15 in New York, where they plan to push for $15 hourly wages. Organizers predict the fast food strikes and protests will draw more than 60,000 people in 200 cities nationwide.
Now that is a true wage increase.
