Confronting the Myth that Low Wages Are Necessary for Profits in the Fast Food Business
http://www.alternet.org/labor/confronting-myth-low-wages-are-necessary-profits-fast-food-business
The more you look at what it means to work in Americas restaurantsespecially at the corporate-run chainsthe less you will want to eat out.
The ongoing protests by fast-food workers for higher wages and paid sick days underscore the most visible problems. Theres also wage theft. Theres gender and racial harassment. Theres discrimination in pay and promotions. Theres slick public relations efforts that paper over this exploitation, with corporate lobbyists repeatedly telling politicians that they cant pay wokers morewhile other executives tell Wall St. analysts about using their profits for stock-buybacks, expansion plans and shareholder dividends.
The nationwide fast food worker walkouts are highlighting and rejecting a predatory low-wage, low-benefit business model thats all too common in service sector jobs. Ironically, some of the nations top business school professors say the restaurant industrys scorched employee policies arent even the best way to build companies.
If paying more is considered part of a bigger strategy, then yes, I think companies can afford to pay more, said Zeynep Ton, a MIT Sloan School of Management professor and author of the forthcoming The Good Jobs Strategy: How the Smartest Companies Invest in Employees to Lower Costs and Boost Profits. The only way to pay more (as well as invest in training, offer more stable schedules, etc.) without hurting business is if employees are more productive and more part of the companys success.