Article

2016-04-15 Economy

McDonald's workers rally in Times Square for $15 minimum wage

[MONEY.CNN] Hundreds of raucous protesters, including striking Verizon employees, converged on a McDonald's restaurant in Times Square Thursday demanding a $15-an-hour minimum wage for fast food workers.

"What do we want? 15! If we don't get it? Shut it down!" chanted the protesters at dawn, bathed in neon light from the restaurant and Times Square billboards.

The crowd of about 300 protesters included a marching band and dancers. A pair of protesters dressed like the Hamburglar carried an outsized effigy of Ronald McDonald outside the restaurant as several McDonald's (MCD) customers sipped coffee and watched.

Posted by Fred 2016-04-15 00:00|| E-Mail|| Front Page|| [477 views ] Top

#1 Say goodbye to the jobs. Hello to kiosks and automation. Drink machines already exist. French Fry machines are already a thing. Walmart has a milkshake machine so thats possible too. Burger machine cannot be much farther behind.

Posted by Mad Eye Mussolini5693 2016-04-15 02:17|| 2016-04-15 02:17|| Front Page Top

#2 Here's The Burger-Flipping Robot That Could Put Fast-Food Workers Out Of A Job

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2016-04-15 04:43|| 2016-04-15 04:43|| Front Page Top

#3 ...In the early 80s, the shipyard where my Dad worked from '65 on was hit by an increasingly long series of strikes. The union proudly stated that they were demanding an eventual 4-day work week with (what would have been) a 25 to 40% pay raise, and would keep striking till they got it.

The yard is a marina today. Dad literally turned out the lights in the office.

(PUNCHLINE: The loathsome SEN Howard Metzenbaum tried to get the Justice Department to order the owners to REOPEN the yards on the grounds that closing it was 'unfair'.)

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2016-04-15 05:30|| 2016-04-15 05:30|| Front Page Top

#4 $15-an-hour minimum wage - plus unemployment insurance, worker compensation, employer's portion of the social security payment, et al, all the overhead each employee really costs an employer not reflected on the pay stub.

Posted by Procopius2k 2016-04-15 08:35|| 2016-04-15 08:35|| Front Page Top

#5 Actually, if you think about this---for the ruling class, welfare recipients are preferable to wage earners (even a minimum one).

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2016-04-15 09:45|| 2016-04-15 09:45|| Front Page Top

#6 At my McDonalds, the managers make $13.00/hr. These workers need to get introduced to reality.

Al

Posted by Frozen Al 2016-04-15 13:16|| 2016-04-15 13:16|| Front Page Top

#7 The demand for wages that aren't equal to the worker's skills is what is going to kickstart the robotic revolution.

Posted by DarthVader 2016-04-15 13:23|| 2016-04-15 13:23|| Front Page Top

#8 That's right Darth.

Its already happening. Resturants are already looking at automated ordering. How hard would it be to have a robotic burger-flipper or fries-fryer?

Posted by CrazyFool 2016-04-15 15:31|| 2016-04-15 15:31|| Front Page Top

#9 No need to pay anyone to make or dispense french fries.

Posted by Javirt Glineter9519 2016-04-15 16:11|| 2016-04-15 16:11|| Front Page Top

#10 At the Jack-in-the-Box in San Diego they used to have a computer with a touch screen menu where you could place your order and then pay with a debit/credit card. It was pretty cool because then I didn't have to figure out what the illiterates behind the counter were saying in their thick accents. Dunno what happened to it. I think it had some glitches because one time the menu went away and I could see that it was a Windows box that had been programmed in java. They should have used Linux and good old fashioned C.

Posted by Ebbang Uluque6305 2016-04-15 16:17|| 2016-04-15 16:17|| Front Page Top

#11 Think of one of those robots who build cars now behind a stove. Or a stove with about 8 arms cooking food on itself. Embed temprature sensors on the grill so it can monitor / maintain different temprature across its surface...

Posted by CrazyFool 2016-04-15 17:04|| 2016-04-15 17:04|| Front Page Top

#12 At my McDonalds, the managers make $13.00/hr.

That is an aspect people ignore when making those clever calculations that the price of a burger will only go up a totally affordable, teensy, weensy bit - the fact that everyone will want a commensurate increase. Go ahead, tell your Day Manager he is now making less than a Fry Cook, Probationary.

Posted by SteveS 2016-04-15 17:55|| 2016-04-15 17:55|| Front Page Top

#13

You put your nichel in the slot and push the handle down. A wheel turns inside the box and quickly comes to a stop. You open the spring loaded door and pull out your Coke. The small black hole just below the handle is the coin return. The larger black oval hole is the bottle cap opener.

Posted by Besoeker 2016-04-15 18:04|| 2016-04-15 18:04|| Front Page Top

#14 The counterbot loafs in a hurry,
Arms blurry. To order you scurry:
"One bunny chow, honey!"
It snatches your money
And spits out a spatter of curry.

Posted by Zenobia Floger6220 2016-04-15 22:50|| 2016-04-15 22:50|| Front Page Top

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