I too had a job as McDonalds when I was a teenager. That was also at a time when minimum wage was less than $4.00 per hour and the work was done primarily by teenagers. Mr. Bialek had a fairly well-thought out letter but even well-thought out letters can be wrong.
I am against doubling of the minimum wage to $15.00 for hours for a number of reasons. One of the main reasons I oppose the increase is because there are skilled jobs that barely reach that level of compensation so someone with little, if any, education should not be paid an equivalent amount. For me, that is a good enough reason to oppose the increase but I am writing to rebut one of the ideas in Mr. Bialek’s letter. He said that McDonald’s, and other fast food restaurants, can afford to pay the higher wages. The flaw in this reasoning is that Corporate McDonalds pay the salaries of the line workers at the individual restaurants. Corporate doesn’t pay the line workers. Each McDonalds is an independently owned franchise. A doubling of the minimum wage would force the small business owner to shoulder the burden of higher expenses and lower profits. The two most likely outcomes for the small business owner if minimum wage is increased would be cutting hours or reducing their workforce. I think it is better to have a job at $7.50 an hour rather than no job at $15.00 an hour.