lass="wwscontentsmaller">by niiicedave
Fast food workers in NYC are striking . They are demanding higher pay and benefits. They want their pay to go up to $15 an hour. In NYC, minimum wage fast food workers are typically are on government assistance. So the fast food workers seek to unionize to raise their pay and get benefits, so they won't have to be on government assistance or live in the housing projects. Its good the workers are fighting for better salary and benefits, as the government should not subsidize a business model of low pay. Housing projects often have deplorable conditions, and unfortunately welfare programs often marginalized certain populations in bad parts of town. As Yahoo News reports.
"According to a 2010 report prepared by the Women's Center for Education and Career Advancement, the 'self-sufficiency standard' -- how much it costs to live without relying on government subsidies -- for a single adult living in the Bronx (the cheapest borough) was $12.56 an hour; for an adult with one child, that number jumps to $23.39 an hour."
It is important that the US have social safety nets such as unemployment, disability, social security, disaster assistance, etc. At the same point, businesses should not fleece taxpapers by paying their employees next to nothing. This forces their employees to get on government programs, and diverts government resources away from things such as public transportation, clean energy/technology, education, among other things. Businesses need to be willing to pay more money and CEOs and other executives need to stop hoarding so much money. Its excellent news that these workers are now striking. Keep up the strike, until the major fast food changes in New York are all unionized.