Minerva Rodriguez has worked at McDonald’s in Houston, Texas for more than 23 years. She gets $12 an hour and says she employs two or three people because the restaurant has long been short of staff. Now, like many Americans, she faces another crisis: runaway inflation. And while he’s noticed that food prices have gone up at his store, the salary hasn’t.
“The wages are incredibly low and not enough for our jobs,” said Rodriguez, who joined the fight for $15 and a union movement for higher wages and better working conditions. “You don’t want to lose that extra money. If they get double the work of their current employees and don’t have to pay another employee, that’s an advantage for them, but what happens to us? Food prices are going up.” And with gas prices going up, how are we going to live?”
Inflation is hitting Americans hard. US consumer prices rose 8.6% from May 2021 to May 2022, the highest increase since 1981, behind annual headline wage growth 5.2% in May 2022. Food prices have increased by more than 10% over the year. A gallon of gasoline is more than 50% more expensive than it was a year ago. The average monthly rent in the US hit an all-time high of $2,002 per month in May 2022.
Fast-food workers bear the most of the rising cost of basic needs, most of whom earn less than $15 an hour with little or no benefits. Many of these workers see no increase in wages amid rising prices for food, shelter, clothing and transportation.
And while workers in the fast-food industry are struggling with low wages and fewer employees, corporate fast-food chains have reported huge profits.
McDonald’s posted record sales growth of 13.8% and $7.5 billion in profit in 2021, and the company’s CEO, Chris Kempczinski, was paid more than $20 million in 2021, more than 2,250 times the average worker’s salary .
Delicious! Brands that own fast-food chains Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut reported earnings of $399 million in the first quarter of 2022, up 22% from the first quarter of 2021. David Gibbs, CEO of Yum! Brands received salaries more than 2,100 times the average employee salary of $27.5 million in 2021.
Chelsea Church, a shift supervisor at a Denver, Colorado-area Taco Bell for nearly a year, recently started a petition to a co-worker, pressuring the company to raise wages because low wages don’t satisfy workers. give up fighting Church claims that shifts are severely understaffed and that low pay undermines hiring and retention as nearby competitors pay better.
“No one can live on less than $13 an hour,” Church said. “We constantly have to deal with customers who are upset about our price increases, but our payment is not.”
Church said her biweekly paycheck doesn’t cover basic bills and expenses like groceries, gas and other necessities. As a shift supervisor, he received a raise of $16 an hour, but argued that the extra workload and responsibilities weren’t worth it and that other employers would hire entry-level employees at that salary.
Nobody gets vacation. I don’t get vacation time
Chelsea Church
“A lot of people have turned down jobs because it’s not enough to pay the rent or buy the clothes and food for the kids,” she said. “Everyone tears their butt off doing extra work that they’re not getting paid for. Nobody gets paid. I don’t get vacation time.”
In Kansas City, Missouri, where Fran Marion has worked as a shift supervisor at Taco Bell for nearly a year, she has faced similar struggles of low pay, understaffing and overwork — while inflation has taken its toll. increases the cost.
“I’m making $16 an hour and I’m still literally living paycheck to paycheck, and the wages definitely don’t match the work they expect me to do,” Marion said. “I am too tired to fill these additional positions and senior management want me to do this within the timeframe they are asking me to do.”
She does not get paid time off and cannot afford the health insurance coverage that the company offers to employees.
“Everything moves, but pays off,” said Marion. “We are human just like everyone else. We may not be doctors or lawyers, but we are still activists and we are people struggling to provide for their families.”
At Burger King in Independence, Missouri, Bill Thompson makes just $11.15 an hour after 10 years with the company. With inflation, Thompson has found it even harder to survive. They haven’t gotten a raise lately despite having fewer employees.
“I’m making three guys,” Thompson said. “Meat and dairy food prices have tripled. We’re already heading into the pantry and finding foods no one else likes, like peanut butter, powdered milk, and mysterious meats. Where’s the dignity in that?”
source
