Whatever your feelings and opinions regarding minimum wage in the United States, you owe it to yourself (not to mention the people struggling in minimum wage jobs) to read this entire piece.
A few highlights (or, lowlights):
Patrick is part of an industry in which working like a “legit slave” is an aspiration. A 70-hour work week means you make enough to survive. ” He’s talking about managers…except managers, even in fast food, are exempt from OT and are usually paid on a salary basis. That means they get the same paycheck if they work 40 hours or 70 hours.
The average life expectancy in North St. Louis is lower than that of Iraq.
“It has been hard to prepare for my GED while working in fast food,” he says. “Reading is not an issue, but math is not my forte.” But the hardest thing about the GED is paying for it. One day I mentioned to Patrick how the price of the GED had doubled, nationally, to $120. His face fell. “Oh my God, why?” he asked. “It’s like they want to make it harder for people to excel.” I could see him calculating how many Chipotle hours equaled the cost of the test. Later we learned that Missouri had replaced the GED with the cheaper HiSET exam, but it was still $50: a day’s wages.
His next job was at Arby’s, where the manager assured him all workers get a raise. They did not. In 2011, he took a second job at Chipotle. For months, Patrick worked from 9:00 am?—?3:00 pm at Arby’s and 4:00 pm?—?11:00 pm at Chipotle. Some days, he worked 13 hours. Some weeks, he had no days off. The commutes were long, expensive and necessary.
Patrick still works at Chipotle. After three years, he has gotten a raise of 80 cents. He now makes $8.80 per hour, the most money he has made in his life. He is allowed to work up to 35 hours per week, but is usually assigned fewer, and he is never assigned enough to live on. If a worker gets 40 hours per week, he tells me, the manager could lose his bonus. Patrick feels sorry for the managers, some of whom sympathize with his plight. They are often not paid more than the workers and load up on hours to compensate.
“At Arby’s the manager salary was $7.35 an hour,” he recalls. $7.35 was the Missouri minimum wage, raised in late 2013 to $7.50. “My manager worked 70 hours a week like a legit slave. He worked hard.”
Fast-food workers begin each week with uncertainty. They do not know how many hours they will work or when those hours will be. They do not know whether they will come up with the cash?—?and it is always cash?—?to make it to the job. They do not know if the lights will still be on when they get home. They do not know where, in a few months, home will be. They hunt for cheaper or easier or safer, knowing that to combine them is impossible.
