mjmannino81 Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 Hello everyone, I would like your opinion on this issue. A lot of my leftist friends say that in Europe (mainly in Denmark) McDonald's workers make equivalent to $45,000 a year, have paid vacation and able to unionize (see the meme in the attachment). Would this policy work in the United States? Why or why not? Of course most leftists would respond with "McDonalds is a multi-billion dollar corporation and can afford to pay their workers more." Thanks for taking the time to answer my question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh F Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 Denmark does not have a minimum wage. It has highly competitive unions and generally much more expensive labor. The labor force is also more educated, and businesses compete for those employees. Additionally, because of these higher labor costs far fewer jobs exist in fast food. The cost of doing business is much less, as well. While there are higher income taxes, there are much fewer and less costly regulations and taxes on businesses. There are less frivolous lawsuits, as well. Employees in Denmark enjoy a higher cost of living. McDonalds employees pay much more in taxes in Denmark. McDonalds employees in the United States pay between 10% and 15% in taxes, compared to 32% in Denmark. Additionally, those people need to pay union fees. Its still a better job, though. And on the issue of unions, the union fighting for this is the SIEU, one of the largest in America. the American Union system is extremely consolidated, and thus not as competitive as other unions. The teamsters, for example, were notorious for even committing violence to increase wages under Jimmy Hoffa. What people don't get though is that Hoffa was so hard core because he was competing against other unions. He had to out-do everyone else, because employees had a choice. Now, unions like SIEU are massive and employees are REQUIRED to join those unions. Denmark enjoys less union consolidation. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fractional slacker Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 Cute meme, but how do you know a McDonald's employee makes the equivalent of $45,000 a year in Denmark?Is that the entry level wage? How many hours do they work for that amount? What is the difference in price for the same items in Denmark and US? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin L Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 The answer is that it really shouldn't be thought of a policy, at least not in the political sense we use the word. Can McDonald's afford to play its workers more? Probably. I'm sure there are also plenty of part time teenagers working there who could afford to be paid less than minimum wage. But those are questions of economics and negotiation rather than ethics, and the idea that guns should be used to decide them is ridiculous. McDonald's has an implicit desire to pay as little money for as much work as possible. McDonald's employees have an implicit desire to be paid as much money for as little work as possible. It's up to the company and its employees to resolve this by working out some sort of contract that each can agree on, whether with a union or not (but above all, voluntarily). And as was already pointed out, the business climate in the Germanic countries is very different from that of America, and they generally don't have government mandated minimum wages, operating instead with a collective bargaining system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slavik Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 http://beingclassicallyliberal.liberty.me/2014/05/18/no-denmarks-mcdonalds-employees-arent-making-21hr/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
endostate Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 Ask them back, "Why not $145,000 per year?" Sometimes people have to hit a tree before they realize they're running blind in a forest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J. D. Stembal Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 Denmark's obesity rate is a full 23 points lower than the United States, so we can suppose that the extra $.56 in the picture meme equates to vastly lower per capita sales of Big Macs in Denmark, which means fewer fast food workers adjusting for population. I was looking at the OECD Better Life Index study to fetch the numbers: http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/denmark/ I have to ask. What does McDonald's call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Denmark? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cynicist Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 I would like your opinion on this issue. A lot of my leftist friends say that in Europe (mainly in Denmark) McDonald's workers make equivalent to $45,000 a year, have paid vacation and able to unionize (see the meme in the attachment). Would this policy work in the United States? Why or why not? Of course most leftists would respond with "McDonalds is a multi-billion dollar corporation and can afford to pay their workers more." Oh yeah absolutely. You can get paid that much to work at Costco or any cellular carrier in the US too. I'm not sure if there is a significant cost difference to operate in the US but it could just be a matter of having a much larger supply of labor driving down wages here. More employees competing with each other for the same jobs means employers don't feel pressure to increase wages in order to fill positions. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
endostate Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 I have to ask. What does McDonald's call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Denmark? uoverkommeligt dyre ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh F Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 I have to ask. What does McDonald's call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Denmark? Royal with Cheese Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tree Frog Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 Or you could just work hard at your "dead end" McDonalds job for a year or so... Become a store manager... And make as much as a school teacher. Not to mention, no $100,000 student loan! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tasmlab Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 Is she counter help or a manager? I guess the former, being only 21 years old. A McD's store manager makes over $40K/year and likely has benefits. http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/McDonald-s-Salaries-E432.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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