One of the most important questions facing many people each day is: “drive-through or delivery?” 🤪 We kid, we kid. But, while we’re on the subject of fast food, there’s a consideration for how much fast food workers get paid. A new development on the West Coast may impact what happens here at home, so let’s check it out!
Here are Five Fast Facts on fast food in Michigan:
- 1️⃣/3️⃣ Thirdy Third Third - About 1 out of 3 Americans get fast food at least weekly. Even though it’s well known to be, um, let’s be charitable and say less-than-optimally-healthy food.
- ☀️ Following Cali - Long known as a bastion of progressive policies, California recently passed a new law requiring fast food businesses to pay workers at least $20 per hour. They have to meet certain requirements and definitions like being part of a chain with at least 60 locations, a shop that doesn’t sell mostly bread (yay, bakeries!), and so on before they would qualify for the requirement.
- 🍔 Here At Home - The reason this is key for us is that Michigan is home to several fast food chains, including McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and Burger King. In 2021, we had the 7th most golden arches in the country!
- 👍 That’s Affirmative - Fans of the wage increase say that fast food work is super UNsexy on top of workers having to deal with cranky, hangry people who sometimes get a bit out of hand. Just take a spin through TikTok if you’re not sure what this is referring to. The point is, minimum wage isn’t enough to deal with all that noise, and this might help bring in (and keep) more workers.
- 👎 Negative, Ghost Rider - Others point to such a huge wage increase jacking up menu prices. It hasn’t happened in all of the chains that have the $15 minimum wage…but it has in some. Expanding an increase like this across the nation could push things over the top and make eating out even more expensive than it already is. And if you’ve eaten out lately, you know what we’re talking about. 😣
🔥Bottom line: While this increase would be great for workers, and while it would undoubtedly attract and keep more workers in these jobs, it does seem likely that prices would be almost certain to go up. Another largely hidden thing to keep in mind: school cafeteria workers might migrate en masse, leaving school districts scrambling.
What do you think fast food workers should be paid?
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