Why a strike by the working poor could backfire

Workers from countless fast food chains went on strike recently demanding higher salaries and while we are sympathetic to the nation’s working poor, in our opinion, there’s no good outcome.

Workers from countless fast food chains went on strike recently demanding higher salaries and while we are sympathetic to the nation’s working poor, in our opinion, there’s no good outcome. Here’s why: if fast food workers were to suddenly earn $15 per hour and have the right to unionize, in our opinion, fewer would keep their jobs as fast-food production and selling would become more automated. For example, machines could do simple processes in the back, such as wrapping burgers with paper. In this digital era, most customers would have no problem with touch-screen orders. And separate lines for credit card or EZ-Pass types of payments could speed customer flow, increase order accuracy, and reduce staff counts. In other words, unfortunately technology could replace workers. This is not to dismiss the fast food employees or their desire for a higher wage. The minimum wage has stagnated since 2009, and while President Barack Obama has expressed support for a $9 per hour minimum, there’s nothing concrete in the future. Furthermore, the National Employment Law Project reminds us of these grim statistics in the fast food world: only 2.2% of its jobs are managerial, the national median age of its hourly workers is 28 (no longer a typical teenage part time job), and more than 25% of its workers are raising children. But unfortunately we do feel that while this recent strike was legitimate and deserves to be taken seriously, it will take more than one strike to achieve their goal. And, if and when that happens, workers should be prepared for Fast Food companies to go to Plan B… technology.