Private sector unions are dying. The attempt last week to unionize Wal-Mart did nothing to stop the death cycle. Now after the Waterloo at Wallyworld, McLabor os going after McJob,s from Salon [1]:
At 6:30 this morning, New York City fast food workers walked off the job, launching a rare strike against a nearly union-free industry. Organizers expect workers at dozens of stores to join the one-day strike, a bold challenge to an industry whose low wages, limited hours and precarious employment typify a growing portion of the U.S. economy.
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But employees were clear about their reasons for walking out. “They’re not paying us enough to survive,” McDonald’s worker Raymond Lopez told Salon in a pre-strike interview. Lopez said he decided to join today’s strike because “This company has enough money to pay us a reasonable amount for all that we do … they’re just not going to give it to us as long as they can get away with it. I think we need to be heard.”
Lopez, a 21-year-old who’s been at McDonald’s for two years, said he makes $8.75 an hour as a shift manager (organizers say this isn’t a supervisory position). He works at McDonald’s and at two other jobs – catering and doing leaf work – while paying off student loans [2], pursuing an acting career [2], and helping to support his family
So just how smart is this Raymond Lopez. He went to school, but learned no skill sufficient to earn him anything other than a minimum wage job. Lopez has saddled himself with both student loan debt and a family. Apparently Lopes did not study economics in his short stay in school.
Lopez as made a bunch of poor life decisions for which he thinks his salary should be doubled and your McLunch become too expensive to eat.