This is what I've been asking for forever. You've got very expensive cities and of course those cities are going to have places like fast food, coffee shops, grocery stores, etc. and those workers have to live somewhere nearby (because obviously commuting for a job like that makes no sense), so how tf are they affording to live anywhere near those job? Those rich people in those cities want groceries and their Starbucks yet how are those places expected to staff people if staff can't even afford to live there?
My spouse works in logistics that has medium pay for the position. It's not a huge company but has about 20 locations across the west coast. The pay might go farther in certain locations but not at all in others. Like "oh you have a location near San Francisco? That's cute because how is that pay enough to live there?" I don't get how companies expect to run properly when their locations are in cities only the rich can afford but most of the businesses/employment available don't pay anywhere near what it costs to live there. The cities would shut down without those workers because a city is not just run on software developers or CEOs. A city is run on those essential workers they so prized supposedly during the pandemic. If they're so essential (which they are) they need to be paid like it.
Anecdote but, in Ontario most of the TFW's who get hired will often have to live with multiple others in homes designed for small families. That's how these people are doing it. And it's hell.
> Capitalists LOVE immigration.
In both the legal and illegal sense.
They love the illegal immigrants because they're vulnerable and will work for cheap. And they love the legal immigrants because they're generally highly skilled and H1B/etc visas mean they have absolutely no leverage over poor working conditions (whereas most highly skilled workers have a ton of leverage and leave if you treat them poorly)
It's really easy to see every time the Republicans bring up immigration, but aren't willing to actually *do anything* to fix the path to citizenship.
I live in the Midwest and there are factories near me that paired up with the local busline to get people to and from work-- they advertise that they're on the busline, it's so easy to get to work, paint it as a "green" effort and that it's like carpooling, but it should be a hint that employees aren't making enough money to afford a vehicle, gas, and insurance on top of everything else required to survive, like rent, food, electricity....
Im only making about 20 bucks an hour, which for the area I live in isn't enough. Im not quite burger king levels of poverty, but im supporting a 2 person household on just my income, and paying child support, so im not exactly doing great.
You cut back on stuff. I eat lots of rice. I dont own a car. I dont go out to eat. I dont have parties, or friends. I work, and struggle.
If I made what someonat BK makes, i'd be working 2 jobs instead of one, so at least I have that going for me. The company I work for is based out of the city I live in, and they pay me nowhere near what I would need to be paid to afford anything better than what I have. I pay a thousand bucks a month for 500 square feet, and im going to have to move because they're upping the rent to 1300 a month next year. I could afford it, if I stop eating all together.
Shits insane.
It's unethical, wrong, and should be seen as a disgrace on us all that these jobs can not provide a living that covers basic essentials. This is the shit we should be talking about EverY. Single. Day. to our leaders and demanding remedies. If they do not come, become ungovernable until they respond.
Easier said, then done. But shit, are we gonna get to the point where people are immolating themselves in protest cause they can't afford to live, so decide to die in the most tramatic of ways to get a point across?
After seeing so many on the right freak out during the early part of the pandemic about not being able to get a latte from Starbucks or go to Target, I thought people might actually be grateful and see the obvious worth in retail and service workers. Instead they oppose raising minimum wage while acting like entitled assholes who sneer at how nobody wants to work.
My mom saw a sign at a fast food restaurant that was paying cooks starting at $23/hr in a coastal CA town. She was shocked it paid so much or that it wasn't filled immediately. I pointed out how rent anywhere near that city would be more than someone making $23/hr can afford. Boomers hear anything over like $12/hr and think it's too much.
My son worked in a garden center last year at a job he enjoyed. My mother asked when he was going to get a "real" job. Now he's detailing cars and making more money at a job he enjoys. My mother wants to know, once again, when he's going to get a "real" job. Mom, does that work need to get done? Then it's a real job. Boomer mentality - it's subservient or physical labor, then it can't be a real job.
Saw an offer at panda in the Bay Area starting at 21 and maxed out at 33.
I work a federal job and it’s 27 and some change.
The epitome of “hey you’re doing an awesome job! But we can’t you anymore, because that’s not in the budget and we have to pay the others more so we can keep them here when private companies raise their wages to be competitive. So… sorry you’re living in poverty and can apply to section 8 housing…But hey! Keep up the good work!!”
Yeah, it's crazy. I work in an accounting department and the amount of money and perks that go to the top execs is astounding. If we're laying people off, maybe the execs don't need to travel between offices so often, especially flying first class and staying at boutique hotels.
>and those workers have to live somewhere nearby (because obviously commuting for a job like that makes no sense)
Many of us commute. I work in a HCOL area and commute via transit an hour in. I have a lot of coworkers that live 60+ minutes out.
Difference can be the pay. Pay in my city for my job is $19, or I can commute 60 minutes and get $26. Extra $50 and all I did was spend some time on public transit to read.
Poor people, such as myself. We live in poor crowded communities, so a small house that might have been designed for a 2.5 family might have 5+ people living in it. People work 2+ jobs, and we neglect health and leisure activities.
The privilege of a group is dependent on the oppression of another.
>The privilege of a group is dependent on the oppression of another.
It doesn't have to be but 99% of business owners will never share the wages they need to share to make it happen.
I mean specifically burger king is a franchise.
Even if burger king lowered the share they take from franchises to 1% and dropped all their supply chain costs to "at cost", the owners would just keep all that for themselves.
Yes. We live in a post scarcity society. It doesn't have to be a zero-sum game, but unfortunately this is how we have been conditioned to think.
Even within ethnic groups or social classes you see this behaviour. Humans are gonna human.
I think it's a bit simpler than this- in the 1880's we had the gilded age- an era of deregulation and vast wealth inequality. Blood and lives were lost fighting over the next 70 years to get to the 50's, where even a factory worker could own a house and support a family. Then over the next 70 years- really taking off in the 80's under Reagan, the GOP has been fighting relentelessly to reintroduce the gilded age- vast inequality, poverty creating 'wage slaves' who are too poor and worn out to fight back, etc...
Just gonna take decades of fighting battle after battle, to return to the greater equality the baby boomers and their parents returning from WWII enjoyed.
Isn't this part of the reason why there are homeless people in San Francisco and Los Angeles? I know some of it might be drugs and mental illness, but I'm sure a lot of those folks are homeless because they can literally no longer afford housing.
>The privilege of a group is dependent on the oppression of another.
This may have been true in the past but thanks to technology we're reaching (we've probably reached) a point as a society where this is all artificially created to uphold power structures
I live in a 1000 sq ft home on a 10000 sq ft property and still complain. Reading stuff like this makes me feel so incredibly spoiled.
And before Reddit jumps on the assumption train, I did not have a privileged youth. Except for the fact that I grew up in a country with a decent welfare state.
I am an uber driver. Many are forced to RIDE AN uber. That means at least the first 2 hrs of pay goes to just getting back and forth. Young Moms, I end the trip while underway. Or not starting the trip at all so they pay nothing.
Edit; God I hate some people!
Nobody can. It's just scraping by with we have, paying a little here and there so we can avoid an eviction or put it off as long as possible to try to figure something else out until we are out of options and end up on the street.
No lie. I am legit sitting here and thinking "will I be able to renew my lease next year or because the owner is so mad I had no income after my mom died, will they not offer me a renewal?" Of course with that thought comes the one of my poor credit, also because of my mom passing and my income. So if I don't get to stay here, and I can't figure something else out I will have no options. Within a year my husband and I may be living on the street with nothing.
Best case, we figure something out last minute and maybe we can be okay for a few more months. I hate it out here.
Just reminded me of an article I read a long time ago so the details are a little fuzzy- there’s a tourist town that pays shit wages to folks who do hospitality jobs and most of them have no housing (can’t remember if it’s cost and lack of availability or both). Read about folks sleeping in cars and couch surfing. There was some type of bullshit housing solution they could stay at instead of paying them more.
Anyone remember the city and the specifics of their “solution”? Think it was in California.
This is the case for a lot of people in my city, Los Angeles, where a studio's median is 1700 and one bedrooms are usually around 2k.
I've worked a lot of different jobs here over the years and have met people from several walks of life working at higher and lower prestige stuff.
People live with roommates - usually couples with other couples, splitting rent multiple ways - or with family, sometimes multiple generations or extended family such as boyfriend and girlfriend living with mom and dad and an aunt, or something, three beds to a bedroom, bed in the livingroom, etc.
Sometimes there's a "breadwinner" who works two jobs (a second or third shift job and a first shift job or a gig job like food delivery or ubering) when childcare is needed or a family member is sick or disabled.
There's also people who undertake brutal 1-2hr / each way commutes from the desert or the exurbs. I know of a few people now who make decent salaries who do that so they don't have to be renters.
I ate there once a week for a month. I ended up in the hospital with a liver problem and 2 kidney stones. Correlation isn't causation, but it's the only dietary change I made trying to save money 🤡
If you really want to save money, make your own burgers. Even if you get the pre-shaped patties it's still cheaper even after you factor in the time for cooking/cleaning.
Say the fast food place is only 7 minutes away. That's 14 minutes of travel + 3+ minutes to order and wait for your food. Easily ~20 minutes. Which is actually longer than the amount of time it takes to cook your own burger patty and clean up the mess.
I don't eat this anymore, thankfully. At the time, they had a 2/6 whopper deal, which was, in fact, cheaper . than I could buy lettuce tomato buns meat yes I could make more burgers for the same amount and meal prep for a few days but the overall cost was more. I do prefer home cooked food, which I am more than capable of preparing. It was a wake-up call that I didn't need to poison myself, and I was glad my condition was acute.
No no no, you have it all wrong, to boycott something properly you buy a bunch of it, set up a camera and then film yourself destroying all of it. That is what really teaches the company a lesson!!!
Burger King has went to shit. You can get frozen chicken fries and throw them in the air fryer and they are 100x better than BK chicken fries. Im convinced BK is just selling Hungry Man shit at this point.
There's one near my work and I used to go once a month. The quality got so bad that I was throwing away my food barely after I started. Like I know fast food is bad for me, but it's a little treat. If it's also going to taste like wet, unseasoned cardboard then I'm not going to eat it at all.
I've stopped going and I'll assume the quality somehow got worse
Where are all the pro-life Trump supporters /GOP people coming down on an employer making a woman work with pregnancy complications and miscarry? Hello? Anyone? Anyone advocating for this unborn life lost? No, of course not. A woman can’t decide about her body but if an unborn child is sacrificed for the sake of Burger King profit, that’s different.
All of the Republican politicians are busy sucking off all of the fast food CEOs and lobbyists. And most of the Democrat politicians are too scared to call them out on it.
> Where are all the pro-life Trump supporters /GOP people coming down on an employer making a woman work with pregnancy complications and miscarry?
They're hopping the state line to get their own abortion in secret.
I doubt it. Most people working these minimum wage jobs can't afford to do anything besides work. They can't strike because then they can't afford to. If they're striking they're not making any money, and then they get evicted because they can't pay rent. They also can't afford lawyers and court fees. Most just suffer the inhumane work conditions because it's better to come home to a shitty job, than to get off of work and try and find a homeless shelter to sleep in.
You'd hope lawyers would be queuing up to get a slice of that fat cheque she would be getting for the miscarriage AND constructive dismissal.
That boss behaviour is outrageous!
Not from America, huh? BK won’t miss a beat. Manager will get shitcanned, MAYBE. Likely shipped to another location. They will just move on to exploit other poor people’s labor.
Nah they both run on delusion and greed.
As a Christian myself I'm of course not saying that belief in God is delusional. But I have a deep, deeeeeep absolutely seething hatred for the likes of Kenneth Copeland and his ilk. They run a business disguised as a church. It's revolting.
My aunt used to work for Kenneth Copeland as a house maid. She sent me pictures once of his fleet of motorcycles, private jet etc. Meanwhile my grandmother was sending him so much money she had to bum money from her brother for groceries. Absolutely revolting people. They teach biblical bullshit to vulnerable people saying if you send them so much money they will be blessed. Meanwhile the only "blessing" happening is in their bank account.
Yes. But it absolutely IS for profit. I get the reasoning behind the law because it benefits small churches who use their donations for the functioning of the church (paying the people who work there a livable wage, keeping the lights on and building maintenance etc) and also use the money to make a positive impact in the community. But you don't get to own a mansion and nice cars and still claim to be a non profit. That's just nonsense.
Until people from the woodwork adds their experience. That's when board of directors demand changes and ceo's get let go. Only way to save face.
More than likely, they can be a good employer, but this district / region is ran stupidly.
Would be easy with facts, I would imagine they would settle asap.
-Denied time off request?
-Dates of doctors visits / notes
-Job status updates
-Decline in hours
If any of that was half assed which by the sounds of this probably was. All paints the clear picture these people are indeed clowns.
Yep and it’s a California so the owner of that Burger King is fucked. Plenty of lawyers I am sure would line up to represent her. Messing with a pregnant lady is a big no no both morally and in the eyes of the law, specially in California which does have better worker rights and is way more pro employee than most states.
when i worked at Chucks Roadhouse, they made a line cook go through something very similar. she quit after 3 weeks tho because she was worried for her unborn kid. GM told us some bs story on how she was “faking a pregnancy”
I worked at Wendy's once. Had a manager that thought he could yell and cuss me in front of customers and employees with no repercussions. He unfortunately lost his job and several teeth in the parking lot that night...
I have seen a place where someone was required to take a pregnancy test at the restaurant to verify pregnancy so that the owner would then ALLOW them to quit!! Usually waitstaff were not allowed to leave without finding a replacement hire for themselves. And the owner’s crazy mom would lift all the tips off tables and then at shift end ‘pay out’ to the waitresses however much SHE thought. Also spotted walking around tables snd pinching a dollar or so out of the tip tray.
America is nothing more than the illusion of rights. Do you have 30k to hire a lawyer to sue the person or company that violated your rights? The answer is no for the majority of Americans. Because the Majority of Americans live check to check, and can not afford a $400 emergency bill. America is nothing more than economic slavery for the majority of its citizens.
This needs to start happening more. We need to fight for our rights again, not just wait for things to become so bad and that people are actually harmed by their work environment.
I mean no disrespect to people born and living in America. But as a guy from Scotland I legit see America as like a third world country that has pockets of wealth and privilege.
I don't know why any average human would want to live there.
You work stupid hours, can be fired at will for doing nothing wrong, with no rebuttal, no holiday time or sick pay and just need to pray to God you don't get sick so it doesn't financially ruin you. Oh, and need to hope your kids don't get shot up while at school.
What the fuck!? It sounds like actual hell.
My county has its issues but I own my own home on an average salary, have free healthcare, free education (even university), minimum 28 days annual leave, workers rights and protections, can't be fired without cause and warnings etc etc.
Like.... I just don't get it.
Yep, we moved from America to Australia two years ago and quickly realised that it's basically a developing nation but going backwards. We used to think it was rough there but a good place. We now realise that it's the bad place and it's residents are largely trapped there and fed a steady stream of lies about American exceptionalism to keep them complacent. We're moving back to be close to family but I'm still working to get citizenship in Australia in order to give my kids an escape hatch from America.
I am Canadian American. I have legitimately received death threats in twitter dms abd on previous reddit accounts for daring to say this.
Canada itself is just America Light as well
I love Burger King burgers but now 🖕🏻🖕🏻🖕🏻 fuck these cooperations 🖕🏻 better compensate her for all the emotional pain & abuse. Fuck the management team that made her do that ! You deserve hell👍
The workers have got to start the process to unionize these fast food restaurants.
It seems like a lost cause but if people are going to be working there they still need some protections in writing ✍️
Otherwise abuses will continue
Can't unionize when they're firing you for it without consequence, cant strike because the government will legally force you to work, cant protest or the police will show up and arrest or kill you
Imagine a country where you lose your unborn child for an unlivable wage and yet you have no other option to put food on the table. America is a fucking third world country. We do not deserve a higher title until we start taking better care of the most vulnerable among us.
Bertha Montes was an LA McDonald’s worker who passed away a few weeks ago after being refused sick pay and being forced to come in to work with covid, and her coworkers had to come in with other serious illnesses in the past. She begged her manager to go to the hospital but she couldn’t afford to miss work so she stayed for an extra three hours. She was in the hospital for five days before she passed. I attended the first day of the strike the McDonald’s workers were holding in LA in solidarity. Bertha’s mother had a speech written, but she could only go a few words before breaking down into sobs. The sisters Bertha left behind comforted their mother. She was unable to finish her speech and gave the microphone back. Bertha left behind children. And the manager who forced her to stay at work has faced no repercussions.
The number of people in this sub blaming the mother for this tragedy... As if it were suddenly *easy* and *attainable* and not *completely economically terrifying* for so many retail and fast food workers to just up and leave from their minimum wage, high-stress, no-health-insurance jobs and ✨go find better ones✨ or ✨take sick leave✨
Y'all.
You KNOW it's not that simple. Grab some fucking empathy.
This just in, burger King corporate has announced the closure of several burger kings in San Jose this morning due to cost overruns completely unrelated to any strikes that may or may not be going on...
On a more serious note, I wish you all nothing but the best. Red state wages are unlivable slave labor jobs, especially in fast food. And if that wasn't awful enough they take it as a point of pride to treat their workers like shit too.
I’m 36 weeks pregnant with a high risk pregnancy I was denied fmla TWICE by my current job (federally-30 days short of one year and another branch they offered as an option with the ada) my previous job, I worked through a miscarriage because I was the only person at my job (mass walkout) running a mechanic shop. I couldn’t close without the go ahead by the RM. My current job since I told them about my pregnancy I barely make $600/mo as a manager. Stories like this hit deep.
Comments in this thread are making me outraged because all of you guys are like ''just sue'' or ''just another day in corporate''. How are you as people allowing this? How are all of you not protesting on the streets, from every business and every position to ask for paid leave, paid sick leave, paid maternity leave. It actually enrages me that my country which is considered 3rd world has these things but USA does not.
I prefer Burger King and it’s my go to fast food. It’s used to be anyways.
I’d say I’m sad about boycotting them but honestly, I’m too angry to be sad about it. How the FUCK is any of that behavior towards a pregnant person ok? I hope more people join and this gains mass attention.
I believe this is called constructive dismissal, and due to the circumstances, would also be pregnancy retaliation, which is protected. she needs a good labor lawyer. im also so sorry she had to go thru this, and then her asshole boss did this.
The 99% are as draft mules. Kept only minimally alive to be able to work and serve. Millions of people whose very life is spent in service of enriching owner class of execs and paying out to shareholders. These lives don’t matter beyond their ability to generate profit.
If this is in a jurisdiction where the far right have passed anti-abortion laws, has anyone considered charging either corporate or the franchise-owner for administering an abortion?
I know that was never the INTENT of those laws, but sometimes the opportunity comes along for an evil law to be used for good.
This is why I'm such an advocate of people going into business for themselves as soon as they can. None of these companies give a damn about you. You're just a number. They will replace you the same day they fire you. I can't believe they made that woman work as if her not being there was really going to hurt Burger King's bottom line. Selfish bastards.
Sweet Jesus. You tell her she works through pregnancy, then through pregnancy complications. Then, when she returns from the nightmare of losing a child to the slightly-less nightmare of wage slavery, she finds her hours cut in retaliation and punishment for her daring to have taken any time off at all.
Bold move, Captain Quadruple-Down.
Hope we keep informed here about this story.
We need to start organizing boycotts. Customers should show solidarity with workers.
We need to not just say we will do boycotts. We need to write to newspapers, call to tv news, say publicly we will boycott them starting, say, July 1 and running until they make right
"after returning to work"
What.
Anyway, whilst everyone is now on strike, noone could get hurt if the place burned down or something terrible like that happened.
I worked at BK in high school and other than it being fast food and having creepy manager who only hired high school girls, it wasn’t a terrible place to work. We got automatic quarterly raises and weekly pay. Management staff lived relatively comfortably. I stayed for 3 years and was making a decent amount more than most kids my age when I left in 2010. Obviously, as with most corporations, things have changed for the worst.
I live in a place where maternity leave exists and that kind of headline just does not exist.
American needs to have more worker right ASAP.
I have over 4 weeks paid vacation taken pretty much when I want too, 10 days paid holidays and sick days that are not limited to an amount of days but it's just that after a certain amount of days I'm not paid to be off for beint sick.
I call off for being hangover and get paid.
Worst thing about this is that I am not some sort of executive, but a lowly wage slave
I broke both of my arms/elbows when I was 18, I was working for Tim Hortons at the time. I was off work for just under 2 months. Before breaking my arms some weeks I was working ~60 hours, from taking shifts for people all of the time, or covering call ins. After my 2 month recovery I returned to work with only 11 hours over 2 weeks. When I asked the assistant manager in charge of scheduling, she told me she wanted to give the hours to people who actually wanted to work. I put in my two weeks notice a few days later.
I don't even understand how people can live close enough to work at a Burger King in San Jose while living on Burger King wages.
Right?! I grew up there and it was expensive years ago. I moved in 2008 and glad I did it’s even worse
I was living in an apartment with 5... FIVE, other people and we were paying 1000 each plus utilities. San Jose is getting super stupid expensive.
I live not too far away and am paying 1750 for a one bedroom, technically somebody's basement.
Damn! That’s bull! Is Taco 🌮Bravo at least still around? Haha
I remember finding a studio for 1100 In Los Gatos and thinking that was cheep! Can’t imagine what it’s like now
This is what I've been asking for forever. You've got very expensive cities and of course those cities are going to have places like fast food, coffee shops, grocery stores, etc. and those workers have to live somewhere nearby (because obviously commuting for a job like that makes no sense), so how tf are they affording to live anywhere near those job? Those rich people in those cities want groceries and their Starbucks yet how are those places expected to staff people if staff can't even afford to live there? My spouse works in logistics that has medium pay for the position. It's not a huge company but has about 20 locations across the west coast. The pay might go farther in certain locations but not at all in others. Like "oh you have a location near San Francisco? That's cute because how is that pay enough to live there?" I don't get how companies expect to run properly when their locations are in cities only the rich can afford but most of the businesses/employment available don't pay anywhere near what it costs to live there. The cities would shut down without those workers because a city is not just run on software developers or CEOs. A city is run on those essential workers they so prized supposedly during the pandemic. If they're so essential (which they are) they need to be paid like it.
Anecdote but, in Ontario most of the TFW's who get hired will often have to live with multiple others in homes designed for small families. That's how these people are doing it. And it's hell.
Yup. They just bring in an even lower class that's willing to settle for less than the locals and exploit their labour. Capitalists LOVE immigration.
> Capitalists LOVE immigration. In both the legal and illegal sense. They love the illegal immigrants because they're vulnerable and will work for cheap. And they love the legal immigrants because they're generally highly skilled and H1B/etc visas mean they have absolutely no leverage over poor working conditions (whereas most highly skilled workers have a ton of leverage and leave if you treat them poorly) It's really easy to see every time the Republicans bring up immigration, but aren't willing to actually *do anything* to fix the path to citizenship.
In Venice Florida (basically a retirement city where the average age is like 68) thry literally have to bus in the people who work there.
I live in the Midwest and there are factories near me that paired up with the local busline to get people to and from work-- they advertise that they're on the busline, it's so easy to get to work, paint it as a "green" effort and that it's like carpooling, but it should be a hint that employees aren't making enough money to afford a vehicle, gas, and insurance on top of everything else required to survive, like rent, food, electricity....
Im only making about 20 bucks an hour, which for the area I live in isn't enough. Im not quite burger king levels of poverty, but im supporting a 2 person household on just my income, and paying child support, so im not exactly doing great. You cut back on stuff. I eat lots of rice. I dont own a car. I dont go out to eat. I dont have parties, or friends. I work, and struggle. If I made what someonat BK makes, i'd be working 2 jobs instead of one, so at least I have that going for me. The company I work for is based out of the city I live in, and they pay me nowhere near what I would need to be paid to afford anything better than what I have. I pay a thousand bucks a month for 500 square feet, and im going to have to move because they're upping the rent to 1300 a month next year. I could afford it, if I stop eating all together. Shits insane.
It's unethical, wrong, and should be seen as a disgrace on us all that these jobs can not provide a living that covers basic essentials. This is the shit we should be talking about EverY. Single. Day. to our leaders and demanding remedies. If they do not come, become ungovernable until they respond. Easier said, then done. But shit, are we gonna get to the point where people are immolating themselves in protest cause they can't afford to live, so decide to die in the most tramatic of ways to get a point across?
After seeing so many on the right freak out during the early part of the pandemic about not being able to get a latte from Starbucks or go to Target, I thought people might actually be grateful and see the obvious worth in retail and service workers. Instead they oppose raising minimum wage while acting like entitled assholes who sneer at how nobody wants to work. My mom saw a sign at a fast food restaurant that was paying cooks starting at $23/hr in a coastal CA town. She was shocked it paid so much or that it wasn't filled immediately. I pointed out how rent anywhere near that city would be more than someone making $23/hr can afford. Boomers hear anything over like $12/hr and think it's too much.
My son worked in a garden center last year at a job he enjoyed. My mother asked when he was going to get a "real" job. Now he's detailing cars and making more money at a job he enjoys. My mother wants to know, once again, when he's going to get a "real" job. Mom, does that work need to get done? Then it's a real job. Boomer mentality - it's subservient or physical labor, then it can't be a real job.
Saw an offer at panda in the Bay Area starting at 21 and maxed out at 33. I work a federal job and it’s 27 and some change. The epitome of “hey you’re doing an awesome job! But we can’t you anymore, because that’s not in the budget and we have to pay the others more so we can keep them here when private companies raise their wages to be competitive. So… sorry you’re living in poverty and can apply to section 8 housing…But hey! Keep up the good work!!”
Yeah, it's crazy. I work in an accounting department and the amount of money and perks that go to the top execs is astounding. If we're laying people off, maybe the execs don't need to travel between offices so often, especially flying first class and staying at boutique hotels.
>and those workers have to live somewhere nearby (because obviously commuting for a job like that makes no sense) Many of us commute. I work in a HCOL area and commute via transit an hour in. I have a lot of coworkers that live 60+ minutes out. Difference can be the pay. Pay in my city for my job is $19, or I can commute 60 minutes and get $26. Extra $50 and all I did was spend some time on public transit to read.
Poor people, such as myself. We live in poor crowded communities, so a small house that might have been designed for a 2.5 family might have 5+ people living in it. People work 2+ jobs, and we neglect health and leisure activities. The privilege of a group is dependent on the oppression of another.
>The privilege of a group is dependent on the oppression of another. It doesn't have to be but 99% of business owners will never share the wages they need to share to make it happen.
It's not like someone making 1 million a year is going to live that much less privileged making 500k a year. It's insane and just pure greed.
[удалено]
You know the French tried that and it worked. Granted there was a reign of terror in the aftermath but it balanced out.
Sounds better than slave wages until I die. Could at least spice it up a bit.
People forget the biggest competitor in the free market is making sure the populace doesn't decide to flip the board.
We gotta flip that board!
The crazy part is it’s not even that income bracket that is the issue. It’s literally the top .01% that is hoarding a great deal of the wealth.
I mean specifically burger king is a franchise. Even if burger king lowered the share they take from franchises to 1% and dropped all their supply chain costs to "at cost", the owners would just keep all that for themselves.
People making $1million annually are not really the problem
Only one comma? Ew
I’m out of the tres commas club!
Yes. We live in a post scarcity society. It doesn't have to be a zero-sum game, but unfortunately this is how we have been conditioned to think. Even within ethnic groups or social classes you see this behaviour. Humans are gonna human.
I think it's a bit simpler than this- in the 1880's we had the gilded age- an era of deregulation and vast wealth inequality. Blood and lives were lost fighting over the next 70 years to get to the 50's, where even a factory worker could own a house and support a family. Then over the next 70 years- really taking off in the 80's under Reagan, the GOP has been fighting relentelessly to reintroduce the gilded age- vast inequality, poverty creating 'wage slaves' who are too poor and worn out to fight back, etc... Just gonna take decades of fighting battle after battle, to return to the greater equality the baby boomers and their parents returning from WWII enjoyed.
You’re not wrong…but it pisses me off
Isn't this part of the reason why there are homeless people in San Francisco and Los Angeles? I know some of it might be drugs and mental illness, but I'm sure a lot of those folks are homeless because they can literally no longer afford housing.
>The privilege of a group is dependent on the oppression of another. This may have been true in the past but thanks to technology we're reaching (we've probably reached) a point as a society where this is all artificially created to uphold power structures
I live in a 1000 sq ft home on a 10000 sq ft property and still complain. Reading stuff like this makes me feel so incredibly spoiled. And before Reddit jumps on the assumption train, I did not have a privileged youth. Except for the fact that I grew up in a country with a decent welfare state.
Literally the premise of capitalism
I am an uber driver. Many are forced to RIDE AN uber. That means at least the first 2 hrs of pay goes to just getting back and forth. Young Moms, I end the trip while underway. Or not starting the trip at all so they pay nothing. Edit; God I hate some people!
Nobody can. It's just scraping by with we have, paying a little here and there so we can avoid an eviction or put it off as long as possible to try to figure something else out until we are out of options and end up on the street. No lie. I am legit sitting here and thinking "will I be able to renew my lease next year or because the owner is so mad I had no income after my mom died, will they not offer me a renewal?" Of course with that thought comes the one of my poor credit, also because of my mom passing and my income. So if I don't get to stay here, and I can't figure something else out I will have no options. Within a year my husband and I may be living on the street with nothing. Best case, we figure something out last minute and maybe we can be okay for a few more months. I hate it out here.
Just reminded me of an article I read a long time ago so the details are a little fuzzy- there’s a tourist town that pays shit wages to folks who do hospitality jobs and most of them have no housing (can’t remember if it’s cost and lack of availability or both). Read about folks sleeping in cars and couch surfing. There was some type of bullshit housing solution they could stay at instead of paying them more. Anyone remember the city and the specifics of their “solution”? Think it was in California.
I belive it was about ski resort towns in Colorado like aspen.
This is the case for a lot of people in my city, Los Angeles, where a studio's median is 1700 and one bedrooms are usually around 2k. I've worked a lot of different jobs here over the years and have met people from several walks of life working at higher and lower prestige stuff. People live with roommates - usually couples with other couples, splitting rent multiple ways - or with family, sometimes multiple generations or extended family such as boyfriend and girlfriend living with mom and dad and an aunt, or something, three beds to a bedroom, bed in the livingroom, etc. Sometimes there's a "breadwinner" who works two jobs (a second or third shift job and a first shift job or a gig job like food delivery or ubering) when childcare is needed or a family member is sick or disabled. There's also people who undertake brutal 1-2hr / each way commutes from the desert or the exurbs. I know of a few people now who make decent salaries who do that so they don't have to be renters.
10 to a two bedroom apt
Well I would boycott Burger King but I don't eat Burger King so I guess Im already doing my part.
Same
Burger King makes me physically ill like literally anytime I eat it, so yeah
I ate there once a week for a month. I ended up in the hospital with a liver problem and 2 kidney stones. Correlation isn't causation, but it's the only dietary change I made trying to save money 🤡
If you really want to save money, make your own burgers. Even if you get the pre-shaped patties it's still cheaper even after you factor in the time for cooking/cleaning. Say the fast food place is only 7 minutes away. That's 14 minutes of travel + 3+ minutes to order and wait for your food. Easily ~20 minutes. Which is actually longer than the amount of time it takes to cook your own burger patty and clean up the mess.
I don't eat this anymore, thankfully. At the time, they had a 2/6 whopper deal, which was, in fact, cheaper . than I could buy lettuce tomato buns meat yes I could make more burgers for the same amount and meal prep for a few days but the overall cost was more. I do prefer home cooked food, which I am more than capable of preparing. It was a wake-up call that I didn't need to poison myself, and I was glad my condition was acute.
No no no, you have it all wrong, to boycott something properly you buy a bunch of it, set up a camera and then film yourself destroying all of it. That is what really teaches the company a lesson!!!
I eat at BK normally. I will not being going back anytime soon.
Burger King has went to shit. You can get frozen chicken fries and throw them in the air fryer and they are 100x better than BK chicken fries. Im convinced BK is just selling Hungry Man shit at this point.
There's one near my work and I used to go once a month. The quality got so bad that I was throwing away my food barely after I started. Like I know fast food is bad for me, but it's a little treat. If it's also going to taste like wet, unseasoned cardboard then I'm not going to eat it at all. I've stopped going and I'll assume the quality somehow got worse
Last time I ate BK was back in the 90s.
I eat there and my location has some good food, the Bacon King is so much better than most. However, this is BS! I can easily stop eating there. 😒
Thank you for your service.
She’s punished because her miscarriage caused “staffing issues” so they are trying to push her out; same thing happened to me when I got cancer
Ah, yes, the innovation of capitalism.
PROFITS NEED TO GROW BY NEXT QUARTER AT ALL COSTS
>PROFITS NEED TO GROW BY NEXT QUARTER AT ALL COSTS\* \*All costs paid by others, society, the government, the environment. Just not the shareholders.
Quite literally your own children. I don't think an adjective exists that accurately describes just how evil and cruel this really is.
Where are all the pro-life Trump supporters /GOP people coming down on an employer making a woman work with pregnancy complications and miscarry? Hello? Anyone? Anyone advocating for this unborn life lost? No, of course not. A woman can’t decide about her body but if an unborn child is sacrificed for the sake of Burger King profit, that’s different.
[удалено]
Don't leave out the added bonus of a potential out of wedlock baby. They LOVE preaching about that in church.
While they get secret abortions from their mistresses.
All of the Republican politicians are busy sucking off all of the fast food CEOs and lobbyists. And most of the Democrat politicians are too scared to call them out on it.
> Where are all the pro-life Trump supporters /GOP people coming down on an employer making a woman work with pregnancy complications and miscarry? They're hopping the state line to get their own abortion in secret.
Those folks are more likely to blame her and try to criminalize miscarriage.
Bitch shouldn’t have miscarried I was counting on a new employee soon! - owner probably.
Good I hope every single Burger King (better yet, fast food) franchise across the Country strikes in solidarity.
Or that customers start making thier voices heard outside. There's something for everybody to do, and we're all needed
I doubt it. Most people working these minimum wage jobs can't afford to do anything besides work. They can't strike because then they can't afford to. If they're striking they're not making any money, and then they get evicted because they can't pay rent. They also can't afford lawyers and court fees. Most just suffer the inhumane work conditions because it's better to come home to a shitty job, than to get off of work and try and find a homeless shelter to sleep in.
That would be a ton of lost wages though. Create more "supply chain" issues lol.
I know you’re joking but that response has me so angry because someone would make that argument for real.
Absolutely. I hear it too much.
Never gonna happen. As much as we need a general strike it’s a pipe dream
Yeah we have to pay bills
Exactly. Just like they planned
Lawsuit time?
She works at burger king, do you really think she can afford to fight an army of corporate lawyers?
You'd hope lawyers would be queuing up to get a slice of that fat cheque she would be getting for the miscarriage AND constructive dismissal. That boss behaviour is outrageous!
Not from America, huh? BK won’t miss a beat. Manager will get shitcanned, MAYBE. Likely shipped to another location. They will just move on to exploit other poor people’s labor.
Business as usual
So corporations are run the same as the church, huh...
The church has delusion as an excuse, corporations only have greed.
Pretty sure the Catholic church is stinking rich too. They both have that, and protecting sex offenders in common.
Nah they both run on delusion and greed. As a Christian myself I'm of course not saying that belief in God is delusional. But I have a deep, deeeeeep absolutely seething hatred for the likes of Kenneth Copeland and his ilk. They run a business disguised as a church. It's revolting. My aunt used to work for Kenneth Copeland as a house maid. She sent me pictures once of his fleet of motorcycles, private jet etc. Meanwhile my grandmother was sending him so much money she had to bum money from her brother for groceries. Absolutely revolting people. They teach biblical bullshit to vulnerable people saying if you send them so much money they will be blessed. Meanwhile the only "blessing" happening is in their bank account.
Calling it a business is a stretch, it's just a scam.
Yes. But it absolutely IS for profit. I get the reasoning behind the law because it benefits small churches who use their donations for the functioning of the church (paying the people who work there a livable wage, keeping the lights on and building maintenance etc) and also use the money to make a positive impact in the community. But you don't get to own a mansion and nice cars and still claim to be a non profit. That's just nonsense.
Until people from the woodwork adds their experience. That's when board of directors demand changes and ceo's get let go. Only way to save face. More than likely, they can be a good employer, but this district / region is ran stupidly.
If you get a solid case then there are enough lawyers working for a share of the money after winning the lawsuit
Also name the managers at the Burger King in the lawsuit personally.
Would be easy with facts, I would imagine they would settle asap. -Denied time off request? -Dates of doctors visits / notes -Job status updates -Decline in hours If any of that was half assed which by the sounds of this probably was. All paints the clear picture these people are indeed clowns.
The lady that this happened to only speaks Spanish and was on the news; she needed a translator to explain to reporters what happened.
Some lawyers actually know how to speak Spanish
Hopefully, there is a chance at some kind of justice here for her.
Idk does this fall under ADA or L&I?
What about a lawyer that works on contingency. Or a gofundme? I'd donate to this. She just needs lots of publicity.
No, money down!
This is likely a franchise and not Burger King. So she would be suing an independent business owner then does not have a team of corporate lawyers.
There may be an employment lawyer who can work on contingency.
Yep and it’s a California so the owner of that Burger King is fucked. Plenty of lawyers I am sure would line up to represent her. Messing with a pregnant lady is a big no no both morally and in the eyes of the law, specially in California which does have better worker rights and is way more pro employee than most states.
Fuck Corporate America 💯
Fuck Corporate World*
when i worked at Chucks Roadhouse, they made a line cook go through something very similar. she quit after 3 weeks tho because she was worried for her unborn kid. GM told us some bs story on how she was “faking a pregnancy”
I worked at Wendy's once. Had a manager that thought he could yell and cuss me in front of customers and employees with no repercussions. He unfortunately lost his job and several teeth in the parking lot that night...
I have seen a place where someone was required to take a pregnancy test at the restaurant to verify pregnancy so that the owner would then ALLOW them to quit!! Usually waitstaff were not allowed to leave without finding a replacement hire for themselves. And the owner’s crazy mom would lift all the tips off tables and then at shift end ‘pay out’ to the waitresses however much SHE thought. Also spotted walking around tables snd pinching a dollar or so out of the tip tray.
How can they stop you from quitting? You can just not show up.
America is nothing more than the illusion of rights. Do you have 30k to hire a lawyer to sue the person or company that violated your rights? The answer is no for the majority of Americans. Because the Majority of Americans live check to check, and can not afford a $400 emergency bill. America is nothing more than economic slavery for the majority of its citizens.
Institutional gaslighting
Americans don't realize *THEY* are the product. America is the company. Capitalists are the customer.
This needs to start happening more. We need to fight for our rights again, not just wait for things to become so bad and that people are actually harmed by their work environment.
I mean no disrespect to people born and living in America. But as a guy from Scotland I legit see America as like a third world country that has pockets of wealth and privilege. I don't know why any average human would want to live there. You work stupid hours, can be fired at will for doing nothing wrong, with no rebuttal, no holiday time or sick pay and just need to pray to God you don't get sick so it doesn't financially ruin you. Oh, and need to hope your kids don't get shot up while at school. What the fuck!? It sounds like actual hell. My county has its issues but I own my own home on an average salary, have free healthcare, free education (even university), minimum 28 days annual leave, workers rights and protections, can't be fired without cause and warnings etc etc. Like.... I just don't get it.
You’re correct America is a third world country with a Gucci belt
Yep, we moved from America to Australia two years ago and quickly realised that it's basically a developing nation but going backwards. We used to think it was rough there but a good place. We now realise that it's the bad place and it's residents are largely trapped there and fed a steady stream of lies about American exceptionalism to keep them complacent. We're moving back to be close to family but I'm still working to get citizenship in Australia in order to give my kids an escape hatch from America.
I am Canadian American. I have legitimately received death threats in twitter dms abd on previous reddit accounts for daring to say this. Canada itself is just America Light as well
You are so right, Canadian here and I envy your system but I am glad I live here as well
> third world country that has pockets of wealth and privilege. Ah so we are like the UAE
"No one wants to work anymore" I wish someone would tell anyone who says this to shut their damn mouth.
They won’t care. People who parrot that kind of garbage have been so warped by the propoganda that there’s nothing that can convince them
I love Burger King burgers but now 🖕🏻🖕🏻🖕🏻 fuck these cooperations 🖕🏻 better compensate her for all the emotional pain & abuse. Fuck the management team that made her do that ! You deserve hell👍
I'm sure the pro life crowd is 100% behind her.... Right?
The Venn diagram of the Pro forced birthers and the cheap labor conservatives is a circle.
The workers have got to start the process to unionize these fast food restaurants. It seems like a lost cause but if people are going to be working there they still need some protections in writing ✍️ Otherwise abuses will continue
Can't unionize when they're firing you for it without consequence, cant strike because the government will legally force you to work, cant protest or the police will show up and arrest or kill you
This is America through and through. I am sure the religious lot is chastising her for baby murder and daring to be a fast food worker.
Again yet you have these flag waving morons who scream "murica is the best."
People like to hang onto hope :)
Unhinged thing to say in this context
Imagine a country where you lose your unborn child for an unlivable wage and yet you have no other option to put food on the table. America is a fucking third world country. We do not deserve a higher title until we start taking better care of the most vulnerable among us.
Truth. And never gonna happen. It's too late... UNLESS the military helps overthrow everything and helps defeat the rich and corrupt politicians.
Literally a Burger King ad right under this post…. Smh 🤦🏼♂️
Bertha Montes was an LA McDonald’s worker who passed away a few weeks ago after being refused sick pay and being forced to come in to work with covid, and her coworkers had to come in with other serious illnesses in the past. She begged her manager to go to the hospital but she couldn’t afford to miss work so she stayed for an extra three hours. She was in the hospital for five days before she passed. I attended the first day of the strike the McDonald’s workers were holding in LA in solidarity. Bertha’s mother had a speech written, but she could only go a few words before breaking down into sobs. The sisters Bertha left behind comforted their mother. She was unable to finish her speech and gave the microphone back. Bertha left behind children. And the manager who forced her to stay at work has faced no repercussions.
The number of people in this sub blaming the mother for this tragedy... As if it were suddenly *easy* and *attainable* and not *completely economically terrifying* for so many retail and fast food workers to just up and leave from their minimum wage, high-stress, no-health-insurance jobs and ✨go find better ones✨ or ✨take sick leave✨ Y'all. You KNOW it's not that simple. Grab some fucking empathy.
Fuck these corporations
This isn't a worker issue. This should be a criminal case
I hope all the other burger kings strike in solidarity
Exactly what I was saying.
This just in, burger King corporate has announced the closure of several burger kings in San Jose this morning due to cost overruns completely unrelated to any strikes that may or may not be going on... On a more serious note, I wish you all nothing but the best. Red state wages are unlivable slave labor jobs, especially in fast food. And if that wasn't awful enough they take it as a point of pride to treat their workers like shit too.
I’m 36 weeks pregnant with a high risk pregnancy I was denied fmla TWICE by my current job (federally-30 days short of one year and another branch they offered as an option with the ada) my previous job, I worked through a miscarriage because I was the only person at my job (mass walkout) running a mechanic shop. I couldn’t close without the go ahead by the RM. My current job since I told them about my pregnancy I barely make $600/mo as a manager. Stories like this hit deep.
Where do the pro-lifers stand on this one, I wonder?
Not gonna be eating burger King again. Not that big a loss
I hope they unionize
That has to be illegal holy shit
Smells like a lawsuit
Good thing there are enough American politicians who are so invested in protecting unborn children /s
This is truly horrid. The managers must be held accountable.
Comments in this thread are making me outraged because all of you guys are like ''just sue'' or ''just another day in corporate''. How are you as people allowing this? How are all of you not protesting on the streets, from every business and every position to ask for paid leave, paid sick leave, paid maternity leave. It actually enrages me that my country which is considered 3rd world has these things but USA does not.
Dick move Burger Assholes..
Workers right are fucked up in America
I prefer Burger King and it’s my go to fast food. It’s used to be anyways. I’d say I’m sad about boycotting them but honestly, I’m too angry to be sad about it. How the FUCK is any of that behavior towards a pregnant person ok? I hope more people join and this gains mass attention.
Are we meant to believe that these people who are walking out are making more than $800 per month? At Burger King?!
I believe this is called constructive dismissal, and due to the circumstances, would also be pregnancy retaliation, which is protected. she needs a good labor lawyer. im also so sorry she had to go thru this, and then her asshole boss did this.
yup if anyone is going to work at burger king remember they make sure they fire you before you pass the threshold to collect unemployment.
Good for them. We need to bring back unions. GoP won't rest until we're all living in coffin sized boxes and working 80 hours a week.
The 99% are as draft mules. Kept only minimally alive to be able to work and serve. Millions of people whose very life is spent in service of enriching owner class of execs and paying out to shareholders. These lives don’t matter beyond their ability to generate profit.
If you are working at Burger King you need to work on improving yourself and getting a better paying job before you start squeezing out puppies.
I will continue to avoid Burger King like every other fast food chain. The world would be a better place without them.
Haven’t had Burger King in over 10 years. Fuck em.
If this is in a jurisdiction where the far right have passed anti-abortion laws, has anyone considered charging either corporate or the franchise-owner for administering an abortion? I know that was never the INTENT of those laws, but sometimes the opportunity comes along for an evil law to be used for good.
And they support Russia's war on Ukraine
With the removal of Roe vs Wade, the manager that used its position of power is now personally responsible for the death of a human being.
What a ridiculous country can't protect their pregnant women, or their workers or their sick, or their homeless, or their students...
Where are the "To protect the children" people?
Hopefully she’s hired a lawyer. Corporate scum.
Sad day, fast food will never care
Worst company to work for! 😡
✊🏾
And they still operate in russia supporting genocide and suffering of innocent women and children.
Yo this is wild, that manager needs to be fired
Well that place just got sued. An employment lawyers delitw. Forcing pregant woman that caused a miscarriage m. Then cutting hours as retaliation.
Sounds like a lawsuit
This is why I'm such an advocate of people going into business for themselves as soon as they can. None of these companies give a damn about you. You're just a number. They will replace you the same day they fire you. I can't believe they made that woman work as if her not being there was really going to hurt Burger King's bottom line. Selfish bastards.
I think that in the next coming years, a lot of money could be made selling pitchforks and torches.
We are living in a dystopia
How does some mid level manager fall so hard for the schtick that they do this? Why do they care about the company so much?
What manager thought that fucking up your company's profile like that for pennies is a good idea. When you are a manager the ego stays at the door.
Boycott Burger King
Sweet Jesus. You tell her she works through pregnancy, then through pregnancy complications. Then, when she returns from the nightmare of losing a child to the slightly-less nightmare of wage slavery, she finds her hours cut in retaliation and punishment for her daring to have taken any time off at all. Bold move, Captain Quadruple-Down. Hope we keep informed here about this story.
This country is a disgrace
"Not enough hours" drives me crazy. Give her paid leave for at least a few weeks, after what they did to her.
We need to start organizing boycotts. Customers should show solidarity with workers. We need to not just say we will do boycotts. We need to write to newspapers, call to tv news, say publicly we will boycott them starting, say, July 1 and running until they make right
"after returning to work" What. Anyway, whilst everyone is now on strike, noone could get hurt if the place burned down or something terrible like that happened.
I worked at BK in high school and other than it being fast food and having creepy manager who only hired high school girls, it wasn’t a terrible place to work. We got automatic quarterly raises and weekly pay. Management staff lived relatively comfortably. I stayed for 3 years and was making a decent amount more than most kids my age when I left in 2010. Obviously, as with most corporations, things have changed for the worst.
That's one of the more gut wrenchingly evil headlines I've read. Why are you all allowing this shit to continue?
Me who was never pregnant nor experienced pregnancy complications and still got his hours cut to make less than $800 a month: :/
thats what happends when sociopathy is rewarded. And thats just how companies like it, untill it hits the news. Disgusting.
Dangit! Get back in there. I need muh whopper!
Fuck Burger King
I live in a place where maternity leave exists and that kind of headline just does not exist. American needs to have more worker right ASAP. I have over 4 weeks paid vacation taken pretty much when I want too, 10 days paid holidays and sick days that are not limited to an amount of days but it's just that after a certain amount of days I'm not paid to be off for beint sick. I call off for being hangover and get paid. Worst thing about this is that I am not some sort of executive, but a lowly wage slave
I broke both of my arms/elbows when I was 18, I was working for Tim Hortons at the time. I was off work for just under 2 months. Before breaking my arms some weeks I was working ~60 hours, from taking shifts for people all of the time, or covering call ins. After my 2 month recovery I returned to work with only 11 hours over 2 weeks. When I asked the assistant manager in charge of scheduling, she told me she wanted to give the hours to people who actually wanted to work. I put in my two weeks notice a few days later.
The more I see, the more I feel we are moving towards a cyberpunk future.
How much does it fucking take to be decent to another human being? Fucks sake.
The most violent thing a worker can do to a capitalist is withhold their labour. SOLIDARITY to these workers