The Milwaukee Post

8 • Milwaukee Post • September 13, 2013 OPINION Hold the pickles Peace and quiet at last. The recent Labor Day weekend is now finally over. The noise was deafening and the groups of annoying people with the "I'm special" attitude were just plain obnoxious. It all started the Thursday before the holiday weekend actually began. Oh, wait a minute; I'm not referring to the 110-year Harley-Davidson celebration in the Milwaukee area that brought tens of thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts from all over the world to Wisconsin. No, I'm writing about the incessant whining of fast-food retail workers who staged strikes here, and in other cities, demanding a $15-an-hour wage to work at the fast-food hamburger shops and other retail establishments. A couple of predicate points are required. McDonald's has become the whipping boy for all fast-food restaurants. McDonald's is the metaphor for fast-food chain criticism, and it's not fair. Wendy's, Burger King, and Pizza Hut all seem to get a pass when a bunch of idiots start whining about fast-food restaurants. Whether it's from calories, carbohydrates, or wages, McDonald's receives the brunt of the vilification. McDonald's, and its counterparts, employ hundreds of thousands of very happy people; they just don't get interviewed when a controversy arises. Secondly, do you, intuitive readers, recall a 2004 documentary done by film student dropout Morgan Spurlock called "Super Size Me"? This cretin, Spurlock, ate at McDonald's for 30 days, three times each day, and had his orders supersized. Of course, McDonald's was portrayed in a very damaging light, and this numbskull Spurlock launched his career by trashing McDonald's with a cheap publicity stunt. The most perplexing question was why he did a documentary on eating at McDonald's three times a day for 30 days. It seems no one else was ever located who had done something so completely stupid. McDonald's would agree; you should not eat wall-to-wall at their stores for a 30-day period. I think raising the wage of fast-food workers to $15 an hour is a stupendously brilliant idea. The next time I go to a fast-food restaurant and one of those newly minted $15-an-hour workers tootles slowly across the floor, gets my order wrong and cops an attitude because I asked that they hold the pickles on my burger, I want the store manager to dock their pay a couple of bucks. Because that's how it works in the real world, and that's the way it works in America; so, welcome to my country. Wouldn't life be easier for us if we could just push the trash bin button on a computer keyboard and dispose of pompous customer service people? Here's another dose of reality to those who think that, by birth right, you somehow have the right of cradle-to-grave economic security: You're wrong and you are living in the wrong country. Everyone has an equal chance (for the most part) to succeed in America. The formula hasn't changed much since George Washington was president; if anything, it's become easier. This country provides more opportunity to be a success than any other in the world. This is an undisputable fact and most of us are tired of know-nothings who allege otherwise. So, if you want to make $15 an hour, work harder, or find a job that pays that much for your undiscovered talents. There are plenty of people who are waiting to take your old job. The people who were striking for a $15-an-hour starting wage at fast-food locations, by and large, were people who don't actually work in the fast-food industry, but they know how to overcook the numbers. They were imports, you know, community activists, professional protesters, members of other labor organizations, and people who were paid to be there to scream the loudest. Many reporters had trouble actually finding protesters who were protesting in front of the store they worked. Another big lie the protesters were advancing was that people couldn't support a family by working full time at McDonald's for minimum wage. No kidding. The protesters point out that only 25 percent of the current McDonald's employees are LETTERS teenagers. This is true. The number they don't share is that the vast majority of the other workers use it to supplement their income from TODD ROBERT MURPHY their full-time job or it's a second household income. Don't confuse the $15-an-hour wage whiners with those who want the minimum wage raised to $10 an hour; that's a different issue, and it seems to be co-mingled with the fast-food $15an-hour protesters. The minimum wage is our own fault. It should not have to exist in a free market. But, it was put into place to protect those on the lowest rung of the socioeconomic ladder. It's the right thing to do for all the wrong reasons. In the past, there were too many unscrupulous employers who simply took advantage of workers by paying dirt money to hardworking people; that's why we have a minimum wage. You can complicate the economic reasoning of the issue all you want. Treating people fairly is why it was enacted. A 40-hour worker, at today's minimum wage, makes $15,000 a year and, when that income is adjusted for inflation, the minimum wage rate is the lowest it's been in 60 years. The market should value the value of a worker. And, it generally does that. A wise employer pays a valuable worker more; value earned is value received and compensated. We should have no objection to a boost of the minimum wage to $10 an hour. Too many people are out of work and it's been for too long. Household incomes, adjusted for inflation, are still below the 2007 level. Smart people, the ones we trust in both the private and public sectors, know that people know. They also know we are war-weary and tired of denying ourselves the simple pleasures. After five years of the worst economic crisis this country has experienced since the Great Depression we are slowly, but with shaky legs, coming out of an economic downturn we'd all like to forget. A bad economy hurts all of us. Technology and increased productivity with more intensive and meaningful training could get us to the point where fastfood workers would be making $15 an hour or more. But it's not going to happen by screaming and waving placards and shutting down restaurants. It happens when corporations realize they can get their profit margins up by having better trained employees. Innovation is rarely found in an institutionalized setting, but almost always by someone on the line, however "the line" is defined. Observing and paying attention to small things that work in a big ways that is the story of America. The late Steve Jobs got that. I've got two pizza chains and a burger chain in my portfolio as examples of how hard work pays off. Four guys, who went to high school around the same time I did, all worked at McDonald's and all own and have been running successful fastfood restaurants for decades. These four guys are the best of the best that the fast-food industry can take credit for training, and there are plenty like them. They all started at McDonald's in high school, they all started working the counter, they all started at minimum wage, they all made it to management, and they all had a dream and they all are an American success story because they pushed harder and smarter and weren't afraid to fail. As an aside to the professional whiners: Your drama credit card has exceeded its limit so hold the sour pickles, please. Murph Speak TO THE EDITOR Robinson drinking too much Kool-Aid in recent column To the editor: Enough is enough. Owen Robinson's column in the Aug. 2 Milwaukee Post ("Scratching the surface") twanged one of my nerves one time too many. I freely admit that I am not a union guy, since most of my contacts with unions have either been hurtful or, at best, unbeneficial. I also admit that some of the things that Act 10 accomplished I was calling for five years before Scott Walker ever took office as governor. Having said these things, I still cannot believe the amount of Kool-Aid that conservatives like Robinson are willing to drink. Over the past few months, I have read a number of letters and columns that make the same points he did. The other side (liberals) are no better with their "must-win" attitude. They come across as if they are the Packers and the Republicans are the Bears or the Vikings. It is not surprising that nothing gets done in Congress. While I am sure that a segment of the union membership quit because, for the first time, they had a choice, I am just as sure that the majority did not quit because of anything as exciting as free will. They dropped out because of something as mundane as dollars and cents. Because of Act 10, public unions were neutered to the point of being a cat who after being snipped, only sits by a window, getting fat and spending his days sleeping or watching the birds fly by. Why would anyone with half a brain surrender a portion of their paycheck to an organization who can do nothing for them other than negotiate a small percentage wage increase? If you were going to do that, you could just as well throw money in a collection plate. Mise le Meas (Todd Robert Murphy pays attention. You can contact him at toddrobertmurphy@gmail.com) Ed Kaminsky Sheboygan

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