Or it's hilarious that those highly experienced skilled people you know are happy to work for such low pay...
McDonalds workers due to strike for £10 an hour...
- Thread starter dowie
- Start date
It isn't really so unusual these days - especially if you don't have the options of easily changing jobs without significant upheaval i.e. moving to another area - a lot of jobs that were decently well paid in the scheme of things 15-20 years ago at a bit over £10/h are still paying around that now despite the increases in NMW and cost of living, etc.
Indeed, it was a slightly tongue in cheek comment to be honest.
It's like my past job doing nightclub/pub security 20 years ago £10ph was the going rate and it was good pay, fast forward to now and the rate is still £10ph if you're lucky and with a decent company but as with most things it's now a race to the bottom with costs and plenty of people who will do what is an unsocial and at times dangerous job for minimum wage mean wages have gone nowhere but if people are prepared to do it for that money then the venues have no reason to go looking for a company that pay their staff half decently and the whole sector sees it's wages drop or stagnate.
Can't have everyone doing it because the more in debt they are, the more fear they contain about unemployment.
So rather convenient then that almost everyone at that age has some sort of debt then.
Almost everyone at what age?
Aside from student loans there isn't necessarily much need for most young people to get into debt, especially if either living with parents or renting a room in a shared house/flat.
Welcome to the real world, it's tough out there for a lot of people.
Soldato
- Joined
- 27 Apr 2013
- Posts
- 4,095
Relative to the size of its workforce, McDonalds is not so profitable that it can afford much of an increase.
Which is exactly why the McDonalds employees are asking for a pay rise considering the sort of areas they've got to pay to live in when working in those stores.
Why begrudge them that? If they can get it then they should go for it.
I'm well aware how tough life is in the real world.
Clearly you don't, you think skilled people stuck earning 21K is hilarious and you defend burger flippers earning the same wage as skilled administrators.
Soldato
- Joined
- 9 Nov 2005
- Posts
- 9,516
- Location
- Southampton, hopefully not too hot, or too cold
Until rent, house prices and letting agent fees are controlled, raising the minimum wage is a "catch22" scenario... Living costs will increase as businesses cover the wage increase by increased prices, but for most normal individuals/families, it is the price of having a roof over their head that is the most crippling expense.
Letting agents and landlord/ladies... Money for old rope.
Allow the UK population to increase by ~10 million since 1990, with more people living alone and not having a sane housing development policy in place by successive governments, shock horror demand outdoes supply and house prices rocket for those unable to get on the housing ladder before ~1990.
Letting agents and landlord/ladies... Money for old rope.
Allow the UK population to increase by ~10 million since 1990, with more people living alone and not having a sane housing development policy in place by successive governments, shock horror demand outdoes supply and house prices rocket for those unable to get on the housing ladder before ~1990.
It was a tongue in cheek comment because you're comment sounded very much like "Well I know people who are doing a much more important job so why should a lowly unskilled worker come close to their wage"
I don't care what unskilled job they do but if they're expected to do it in areas that cost more just to exist in then why shouldn't they be paid more?
In the same vein if the people you know are happy to do the job they do for the money they earn then what incentive is there for their employer to pay more?
Do I think it's right that I earn a lot more sat in a comfy office doing my "skilled" work than my nearing retirement dad does breaking his backside in a grubby factory doing shifts and tiring physical labour. Not really but as you said welcome to the real world.
Last edited:
Absolutely. Someone I work with has had to take on an additional dozen or so hours a week in a call centre to help with rent increases. Which has had a marked impact on their work (they were pulled up on the quality of it twice that I'm aware of last week) as they are obviously more tired and have less energy/focus.
Caporegime
- Joined
- 21 Jun 2006
- Posts
- 38,367
hahahhahahaha that isn't how mc donalds works.
a franchise is a million pounds how many people do you know on £7 an hour where a bank will say yeah heres a million quid for a franchise.
and with a franchise the highest you can go is from toilet cleaner to store manager unless the franchisee has loads then possibly regional manager. those franchises are their own entity away from the corporation.
it's not as if you can do anything innovative either. it's a franchise you have to play by their rules. you cannot all of a sudden decide to do two for tuesdays on mcdonalds happy meals, etc. it's set by the company itself. so a store manager is just managing staff, they don't need to do much in terms of coming up with new ideas, etc. it's all motivation and people management. whereas in a proper business they would.
Dunno about McDonald's but one of my previous bosses did that - started as a retail warehouse operative worked his way upto manager then area manager and then got a loan to open his own franchise.
EDIT: That is over about something like 34-35 years or so though at a guess.
Associate
- Joined
- 21 Oct 2012
- Posts
- 2,332
Caporegime
- Joined
- 21 Jun 2006
- Posts
- 38,367
i'll take a strong guess that he wasn't earning £7 an hour and the cost of a franchise wasn't a million quid.
it's easy to do with things like subway with like a £40K franchise cost but not mc donalds with their million plus
Where are you getting £1million plus from?
http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk/ukhome/People/Franchising.html/what-you-will-need.html
Soldato
- Joined
- 21 Apr 2007
- Posts
- 6,636
SEIZE THEIR ASSETS!!!!!
Just extend "right to buy" to the private rental market and watch how many houses come on to the for sale market, that'll sort out the shortage
