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Sebastian Martinez Hickey on Minimum Wage, Saru Jayaraman on History of Tipping Janine Jackson ([link removed])


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Yahoo: McDonald's $18 Big Mac Meal Goes Viral Again As Fast Food Minimum Wage Hike To $20 Triggers Fears Of Skyrocketing Prices And Layoffs, Leaving People Questioning: 'Maybe This Went Up Way Too Fast'

Yahoo (1/4/24 ([link removed]) )

This week on CounterSpin: The journalists at Yahoo Finance tell us ([link removed]) that a Connecticut McDonald’s charging $18 for a combo meal has “sparked a nationwide debate” on escalating prices in the fast food industry. The outrage, readers are told, is “partly attributed” to a recent raise in the minimum wage ([link removed]) —which has not yet gone into effect. Spoiler: We never hear about any other “parts” “attributed.” Businesses like McDonald's, the story goes, “have already raised their prices in anticipation of the wage hike.”

Were there any other responses available to them? Don’t ask! We’re moving on—to how it isn’t just that poor working Joes will have to pay more for a Big Mac, but also there will be layoffs…of fast-food employees. We meet Jose and Jim, who say they thought higher wages would be good, “considering the decline in tipping and increasing living costs.” Alas no, Yahoo explains: “The reality was harsher. The wage increase, while beneficial for some, has resulted in job losses for others, leading to a complex mix of gratitude and resentment among affected workers.” The takeaway: "The debate over the appropriate balance between fair wages and sustainable business practices remains unresolved.”

The piece does go on to lament the mental stress associated with economic uncertainty—not for owners, evidently—and the wise counsel that those troubled might consider “establishing a substantial savings account and making smart investments.”

Elite reporters seem so far removed from the daily reality of the bulk of the country that this doesn’t even ring weird to them. A raise in wages for fast food employees means fast food employees have to lose their jobs—that’s just, you know, “economics.” Union, what? Profiteering ([link removed]) , who? The only operative question is, which low-wage workers need to suffer more?

We get a different view on raising the minimum wage from Sebastian Martinez Hickey, researcher for the EARN (Economic Analysis and Research Network ([link removed]) ) team at the Economic Policy Institute ([link removed]) .

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Restaurant worker (cc photo: Daveblog)

Tipped worker (cc photo: Daveblog)

Also on the show: A largely unspoken part of media’s wage conversation is the whole sector of workers whose pay rates are based in…enslavement. Yeah. In 2015, CounterSpin learned about ([link removed]) tipped wages from Saru Jayaraman, co-founder of the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United ([link removed]) and director of the Food Labor Research Center ([link removed]) at the University of California, Berkeley. We hear part of that relevant conversation this week.

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