Many workers in the fast food sector went on strike for better pay. The strike is named after the date #829 (August 29th) when it occurred. When we go to a McDonald’s, a Wendy’s, a Burger King’s, a Taco Bell, or a Long John Silver’s restaurant, we do not think about what it is like for those who must work there (unless, or course, we work there). Their wages are at the lowest end of the private sector—minimum wage and basically no benefits. For too many of these workers, they have been doing their jobs for years, and have seen no wage hike. Ironically, the fast food corporations take in over U.S. $200 billion a year. While maybe the economy has not been the best (far from it), too many workers in the fast food industry are having a hard time trying to make ends meet….if they can.

                         O.K., many people will say that fast food workers work in unskilled professions while people like firefighters and ambulance personnel work to save people everyday. Many of these people are paid maybe U.S. $12.00 an hour, while many fast food workers are demanding anywhere between U.S. $12.00 to U.S. $15.00 an hour. Many people may cry “unfair” that fast food workers should get so much when people who save lives do not. However much fast food workers should get, they do deserve an marked increase in their wages. I also believe that people who work as firefighters and ambulance personnel should equally get a pay hike.

                          American wages have been depressed for too long, and this is one of the reasons why more money is not being put into the U.S. economy. I am not talking about increasing the wages for everyone, but I do think that people at the bottom of the service sector should be entitled to a long over-due wage increase. Turnover in the fast food industry is quite high, and this causes instability in that sector and means that people who earn any money will be lucky if they can even pay such basics as rent, utilities, or food (many times they cannot). Despite the bad economy, the fast food sector, especially in regards to the big food corporations, are doing quite well. In my view, this should be reflected in their workers’ paychecks.