HomeUploadUpload DirectHotlinkRandomAbouttheme toggle
Expand

What We Saw at NYC's Fast Food Strike

Views:999
@ReasonVids

Yesterday, Naomi Brockwell and I attended a demonstration demanding that fast-food restaurants boost their minimum wage to $15 per hour, or a little more than double the current federal minimum wage. The strike, which was led by a group called Fast Food Forward that's affiliated with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), was one of more than a 100 similar demonstrations held in cities across the country.

The New York demonstration had about 150 people, but the number of actual fast food employees participating in the strike was small. It was business as usual at every restaurant we dropped by yesterday morning and, at a McDonald's restaurant on 23rd Street and Madison Avenue in Manhattan, employees behind the counter said they had heard nothing about a strike.

We caught up with the protesters in front of a Wendy's in downtown Brooklyn, where the crowd consisted of union organizers, fast-food workers, and their sympathizers. An estimated one-third of the demonstrators were fast-food employees, meaning that less than one-tenth of 1 percent of New York City's 57,000 fast-food workforce participated in the strike.

The group was traveling from one fast-food restaurant to another, before winding up at Foley Square in Manhattan around 1pm.

Multiple strikers told us they had received compensation through a union strike fund to appear, but declined to say the amount they were paid.

Artificially doubling wages to $15 an hour would change many things in the fast food industry, including the easy path it provides for low-skilled employees to break into the labor market. Substantially higher wages would mean that existing employees would be less apt to look for other positions, and senior staffers would be more inclined to hog shift hours. Franchisees would likely move more aggressively to replace human service workers with automated cash registers, which is already happening in European McDonald's. Evidence of how artificially boosting wages destroys opportunities for entry level workers was best documented in a 2006 study by economists David Neumark and William Wascher, which was updated in 2013.

In interviews, several striking workers described how it had been relatively easy for them to get a job in fast-food service. Shenita Simon, who works as a shift supervisor at KFC, told us that she doesn't know where else she would have been able to find a position, because fast food is the only industry that "will allow you to have minimum education." Isaac Wallace, a Burger King employee, described how he was able to get his job immediately after moving to New York from Jamaica by simply walking into a Burger King in Brooklyn and approaching the manager.

Once the strike moved to Foley Square, organizers from Fast Food Forward began obstructing our efforts to talk with protesters.

For full links and downloadable versions go here: http://bit.ly/1cquYYK

And subscribe to Reason TV's YouTube Channel to receive automatic updates when new material goes live.

Produced by Jim Epstein and hosted by Naomi Brockwell.

About 2.30 minutes.

fast food (industry)
,
fast food worker strikes
,
seiu
,
mcdonald's
,
fast food forward
,
naomi brockwell
,
libertarian
,
libertarianism
,
reason tv
,
reason magazine
,
reason foundation
    Thumbnail for Federal Reserve, Not Free Market, Caused Crisis says "Money for Nothing" Filmmaker Jim Bruce9:49
    Federal Reserve, Not Free Market, Caused Crisis says "Money for Nothing" Filmmaker Jim Bruce
    ReasonVids
    895 views
    Thumbnail for Pentagon Has 'Everything Must Go' Sale1:37
    Pentagon Has 'Everything Must Go' Sale
    ReasonVids
    807 views
    Thumbnail for Stossel:  Who Owns Your Body5:21
    Stossel: Who Owns Your Body
    ReasonVids
    858 views
    Thumbnail for Are Social Cons Still Relevant in the GOP?2:41
    Are Social Cons Still Relevant in the GOP?
    ReasonVids
    1030 views
    Thumbnail for Bitcoin Is Free Speech: Why Jamie Dimon Was Wrong and Governments Can Never ‘Close It Down’2:36
    Bitcoin Is Free Speech: Why Jamie Dimon Was Wrong and Governments Can Never ‘Close It Down’
    ReasonVids
    899 views
    Thumbnail for Duck Vs. Tiger0:10
    Duck Vs. Tiger
    bestofvoatxyz
    1753 views
    Thumbnail for What We Saw at the Drug Enforcement Administration Museum2:23
    What We Saw at the Drug Enforcement Administration Museum
    ReasonVids
    870 views
    Thumbnail for Africa, Capitalism, and the "Elimination of Poverty": Leon Louw on Africa's Incredible Growth9:35
    Africa, Capitalism, and the "Elimination of Poverty": Leon Louw on Africa's Incredible Growth
    ReasonVids
    954 views
    Thumbnail for What if Government Ran Health Care? (Sprint Ad Remix)1:00
    What if Government Ran Health Care? (Sprint Ad Remix)
    ReasonVids
    896 views
    Thumbnail for Obama Inaugural Rewind: Rhetoric vs Reality1:22
    Obama Inaugural Rewind: Rhetoric vs Reality
    ReasonVids
    981 views
    Thumbnail for Reality Show President: Inside the White House PR Machine11:57
    Reality Show President: Inside the White House PR Machine
    ReasonVids
    988 views
    Thumbnail for Sandy Springs, Georgia: The City that Outsourced Everything7:53
    Sandy Springs, Georgia: The City that Outsourced Everything
    ReasonVids
    789 views
    Thumbnail for Tony Williams: Pro-School Choice, Pro-Business Democrat Running For PA Governor10:01
    Tony Williams: Pro-School Choice, Pro-Business Democrat Running For PA Governor
    ReasonVids
    848 views
    Thumbnail for sea dog0:20
    sea dog
    bestofupgoat
    185 views
    Thumbnail for High School Journalism Teacher Suspended After Standing Up for Student Reporters' Free Speech Rights7:05
    High School Journalism Teacher Suspended After Standing Up for Student Reporters' Free Speech Rights
    ReasonVids
    926 views
    Thumbnail for False Flags: The Secret History of Al Qaeda | Corbett Report1:16:18
    False Flags: The Secret History of Al Qaeda | Corbett Report
    bestofsaidit
    910 views
    Thumbnail for The FBI Basically Admits they Orchestrated January 6th for Political Gain and to Use Against Trump.11:04
    The FBI Basically Admits they Orchestrated January 6th for Political Gain and to Use Against Trump.
    bestofsaidit
    1550 views
    Thumbnail for Libertarian Candidate Gary Johnson on Why He's The Best Choice Against Trump and Clinton6:43
    Libertarian Candidate Gary Johnson on Why He's The Best Choice Against Trump and Clinton
    ReasonVids
    926 views
    Thumbnail for Reason Saves Cleveland With Drew Carey! Coming March 15! Trailer 21:02
    Reason Saves Cleveland With Drew Carey! Coming March 15! Trailer 2
    ReasonVids
    895 views
    Thumbnail for Based Pajeet1:21
    Based Pajeet
    bestofupgoat
    457 views
    Thumbnail for SpaceX에 도전한다! 블루오리진 뉴 글렌 발사 생중계! [항성의 우주속으로] | 안될과학 Unrealscience1:51:46
    SpaceX에 도전한다! 블루오리진 뉴 글렌 발사 생중계! [항성의 우주속으로] | 안될과학 Unrealscience
    invidious
    104 views
    Thumbnail for Bell and Agit v. Iowa Board of Cosmetology Arts and Sciences20:07
    Bell and Agit v. Iowa Board of Cosmetology Arts and Sciences
    IJvids
    820 views
    Thumbnail for Marching Music for Chads0:17
    Marching Music for Chads
    voatcatbox
    485 views
    Thumbnail for There's trouble in the forest1:00
    There's trouble in the forest
    bestofupgoat
    402 views

points

Permalink
Reply
fast food (industry)
,
fast food worker strikes
,
seiu
,
mcdonald's
,
fast food forward
,
naomi brockwell
,
libertarian
,
libertarianism
,
reason tv
,
reason magazine
,
reason foundation
TOS  •  Add Keywords  •  Donate  •   Analytics  •   DMCA  •   Puzzle