Bianes 1

Arrianna Bianes

Mr. O’Meara

English Period 1

29 November 2018

Unionizing Fast Food Workers

Author of​ Fast Food Nation,​ Eric Schlosser, explains, “after working at Burger King

restaurants for about one year, the sociologist Ester Reiter concluded that the trait most valued in

fast food workers is ‘obedience’” (75). Due to fast food corporations wanting an employee that

will follow any orders and disregard mistreatment, the workers’ rights are constantly being

overlooked and restrained. In order to prevent this cycle from continuing, fast food workers

should have the right to unionize. As a result, unions will help raise awareness and create more

sustainable jobs inside restaurants. Eric Schlosser states, “when management determines exactly

how every task is to be done... and can impose its own rules about pace, output, quality, and

technique, [it] makes workers increasingly interchangeable,” (70). Workers are easily

replaceable when fast food franchises determine and micromanage every specific task an

employee will perform on the job. With a high turnover rate, employees never gain skills that

will promote them in the company, and the lack of skills will prevent the individuals from being

successful in other jobs. Moreover, many employees will remain at the same low wages or be

replaced with someone who will do the same job. Therefore, the high turnover rate of workers

proves large fast food corporations do not care for them and primarily focus on their own

benefits. Work unions will raise awareness to ensure companies focus on what is best for the

workforce by helping them build the skills to be successful in their current job or future jobs. In
 Bianes 2
addition to creating sustainable jobs, fast food worker unions will raise low wages and work to

gain benefits for the employees. According to Sarumathi Jayaraman, the author of ​Behind the

Kitchen Door,​ “only 20 percent of restaurant jobs pay a livable wage, and women, people of

color, and immigrants face significant barriers in obtaining those livable-wage jobs,” (3). Fast

food workers cannot support themselves living on an extremely low salary. Without a sustainable

living wage, employees will not be able to increase their economic status. There will eventually

be a wage gap between the rich and the poor. The wage gap is more prone to happen if certain

groups of people, such as women, people of color, and immigrants, have difficulty finding a

livable-wage job. In order to prevent the wage gap before it occurs, unions will work to raise

wages for the fast food employees and for people with difficulty finding sustainable jobs in the

fast food industry. Additionally, Steve Early, author of ​Saving Our Unions, ​reveals, “by 2013

overall employee compensation – including health and retirement benefits – dropped ‘to its

lowest share of national income in more than 50 years while corporate profits have climbed to

their highest share over that time,” (16). Not only are corporate companies earning more money

at the expense of their workers, but also the workers are being cheated out of money with the

lowering of their benefits. The employees do not have a say on the benefits they earn and the

corporations are increasingly restricting how much they receive. Basic benefits, such as health,

paid time off, and retirement, have an increased importance for employees with low incomes

because they provide assistance and support for any employee ranging from those with medical

conditions requiring time off to others who must provide for their family. Individuals standing

alone have proven ineffective at improving the low benefits because there have been no major

changes to fix the problems facing fast food workers. Therefore, workers must have the right to
 Bianes 3
unionize to advocate as a group for the cause to give fast food employees more benefits. Fast

food corporations have taken the rights away from their employees by mistreating them with low

wages, minimal benefits, and giving them unsustainable jobs; however, giving fast food workers

the right to unionize will allow them to improve the fast food corporation by preventing unfair

practices within the industry.

 Bianes 4
Works Cited

Early, Steve. “Saving Our Unions.” ​Monthly Review: An Independent Socialist Magazine​,

vol. 65, no. 9, Feb. 2014, p. 15. ​EBSCOhost​. Accessed on 26 November 2018.

Jayaraman, Sarumathi. ​Behind the Kitchen Door​. ILR Press, 2013. ​EBSCOhost​. Accessed

on 26 November 2018.

Schlosser, Eric. ​Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. ​Book design

by Robert Overholzer, First Mariner Books, 2012.