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Kaitlyn Avitia,

O’Meara

Adv. English Period 3

29 November 2018

Fast-Food Fairness

“ One out of every eight workers in the United States has at some point been employed at

McDonald’s”(Schlosser 4). Despite McDonald’s being a large employer of fast-food workers,

they do not have unions to protect the workers. The fast-food workers in America should have

the right to unionize without receiving repercussions. Several workers can advocate that working

at a fast-food restaurant is not safe, “...Arm full of burns Rainer raised his arm and held it out the

men were burned in the same places, stripes.” (Orleck 58). McDonald’s workers got pressured to

complete things as quickly as possible. Numerous have admitted to not think about safety when

constantly behind. People should not be burned from simply working at drive-through

restaurants. To help insure a coverage of health insurance, labor unions must be able to get

people to convince the government to change or add to the law. Fast-food workers are constantly

treated unfairly causing a need for union rights. “Roughly 90 percent of the nation’s fast food

workers are paid an hourly wage, provided no benefits, and scheduled to work only as needed

crew members are employed at will”(Schlosser 73-74). These employees deserve to receive

benefits for their hard work. Some workers at fast-food restaurants are using their paycheck to

support families. The low hourly wage doesn’t allow much flexible wages. With flexible wages

employees could get paid what their worth, and they could negotiate more needed money to

support themselves and others. These employees are hired to simply fill a shift, instead of being
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hired to gain skills and better the community with more workers. “ Even Walmart and

McDonald’s gestured at change McDonald’s raised wages for some employees just ninety

thousand of it’s workforce of more than two million and Walmart raised its minimum to $10 but

then cut hours and benefits and closed stores.” (Orleck 60). Unions are responsible for big

companies like Walmart and McDonald’s to raise their minimum wages. Unfortunately, this did

not lead to a better work environment. Instead of fully allowing unions, these chains raised their

wages because in the long run unions would provide more benefits. If these chains would of fully

allowed unions, the workers would of had to be treated with respect, and receive health benefits.

Without unions big company’s jobs are unstable and inefficient. “Unions provide workers a

voice, and that translates into improved productivity, lower quit rates, and other economically

beneficial attributes... globalization, which introduced very low-wage labor costs, “ (Sleigh 624).

Unions greatly improve the lives of the workers, and the company in general. Unions give people

the power to fight back when they are mistreated. Without this power companies would of

treated workers a lot worse and most probably paid them substantially less. In 2014, fast-food

union workers in 230 cities walked off the job demanding a living wage, full-time work, and

union recognition. “By 2016, six in ten Americans supported a $15 hourly minimum”(Orleck

60). Labor unions constantly improve the workforce and improve the lives of everyday workers.

Unions have repeatedly made changes to better the communities where fast-food restaurants are
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. These unions are bringing the working standards up where they are supposed to be. “

Employees want to be treated like individuals, not like interchangeable cogs in a giant wheel;

and people perform best when they feel valued and heard.”(McBroom 7), workers have been

treated with little respect due to being easy to replace. Nowadays, due to machines being able to

do most of the work at fast food restaurants, workers require little skill and training. This has

lead to workers looking easily replaceable. Without unions, workers are harmed, disrespected,

and financially starving; workers deserve the right to unionize for the bettering of themselves.

Work Cited

McBroom, Kathleen. “We are all fast food workers.” ​Booklist, EBSCOhost, ​vol.114, issue 11,

p.7

Accessed 25 October 2018.

Noguchi, Yuki.”NLRB Ruling Could Pave the Way For Fast-Food Unions.” ​Morning

Edition, EBSCOhost, ​Accessed on 1 November 2018.

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Orleck, Annelise.” Fast-Food Workers Unite!” ​Progressive, EBSCOhost, ​vol.82, issue 1, p.57-60

Accessed on 29 October 2018.

Schlosser, Eric. ​Fast-Food Nation.​ Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012, p.71-74, 151,4..

Sleigh, Stephan R. “What Do Unions Do?--A Unionist's Perspective.” ​Advanced Placement

Source, EBSCOhost, Journal of Labor Research.​ Fall 2005, Vol. 26 Issue 4, p.623-640.

Accessed on 1 November 2018