Two weeks ago I stood next to Jacquie, a fast food worker from Albany, as the New York Fast Food Wage Board recommended implementing a minimum wage increase for nearly 136,000 fast food workers in New York State. Jacquie works full time at McDonald’s, but even with public assistance she’s forced to choose between food and medicine for her husband.
The Wage Board recommended increasing wages for fast food workers by about a dollar a year for the next 6 years for upstate and Long Island. By 2021, fast food workers in upstate New York, like Jacquie, will be closer to being able to make ends meet and have a pathway out of poverty – with a $15 an hour minimum wage.
Raising wages for workers like Jacquie will also boost our local economy, as workers have more to spend in our neighborhood stores. And history and common sense economics proves that if the wage “floor” or “minimum” rises up, than all workers above that floor rise as well. That means more economy boosting jobs.
But as we were celebrating this victory, won through the hard work and activism of fast food workers, I was surprised and disappointed to hear negative comments by some individuals on the radio, on social media, and in my community. Here’s what I’d say in response.
Complaint #1: Fast food workers who have no skills shouldn’t make more than firefighters or EMS workers.
First, a quick search shows that the average salary of a firefighter is $60,000 a year. The median salary of a paramedic is around $32,000 a year, or, $15 an hour. Of course, EMS workers should get paid more for their essential work, which is much more likely to happen when we raise the wage floor.
But really, every working parent should get paid enough to care for their children and set them off to a great future. Research from the Alliance for a Just Society’s Job Gap reports show that the living wage for a single person living in upstate New York is $18.47 an hour. That’s what’s needed to meet the basics and not be dependent on benefits or go into debt.
Complaint #2: If the minimum wage is going to be raised for fast food workers, it should be raised for everyone, now.
Fast food workers have been organizing together for decent wages and a union for 2 years straight – from a powerful industry that definitely can afford to pay higher wages. Organizing gets results. This is why unions exist. McDonald’s, Burger King, Taco Bell, Wendy’s – these are multi billion dollar companies whose CEOs make $1000 for every $1 a cashier makes. And because these companies pay so little, their workers rely on public benefits to meet the basics, at a cost of $700 million a year. That means that because McDonald’s won’t pay, we pay so the children of fast food workers get enough to eat.
We’d love the minimum wage to be raised for everyone to $15 an hour, but the New York State Senate is blocking the way. So that’s why the Wage Board did what they are required to do under New York law, provide fair wages in a single industry.
Complaint #3: Fast food should just be a starter job, not a career.
Not any more. Three-out-of-four fast workers are adults 22 or older, including, almost half who have attended college. Many – about one out of four – are parents . When manufacturing dominated our economy, workers organized together in unions to get decent wages and push for minimum wage laws. In today’s, service sector economy, workers are doing the same.
Complaint #4: This is just going to force restaurants to shut down or replace workers with computers and then we’ll lose jobs in New York.
Every heard the saying “don’t believe everything that you hear?” Threatening shut downs and automation is a scare tactic. It’s what big corporations say anytime that government acts to protect safety and health or uphold basic wage laws. The big fast food chains have already done everything they already can to make things cheaper so that every cent you spend goes into their own piggy banks. And shut stores downs? They don’t make money in unless they are open.
The fact is that multiple studies by economists – looking at real life minimum wage increases – show that jobs are not lost. Instead, low wage workers who get a wage hike have more money to spend in the local economy. They shop more at local businesses. They boost the economy.
So now what?
Republicans in the state Senate, who hold a razor thin majority, have consistently blocked increases for living wages. Those same Republicans have given $8 billion in tax credits, tax breaks and subsidies to giant companies in New York with no accountability for jobs created. It’s time to put the focus on the real engines of our economy, working people, instead of the super rich who have taken way more than their fair share of the wealth we all generate.
The Raise Up New York Coalition will be back at it in the next legislative session that begins in January with a campaign for a $15 minimum wage for all workers in New York State. We know higher wages for all workers will build the middle class, boost the economy and begin our recovery from 30 years worth of CEO-forced wage stagnation. I hope you’ll join us.