Historic Hearing on Impact of $200 Billion Fast Food Industry’s Low Wages

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http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2013/06/27-7


City Council Holds Historic Hearing on Impact of $200 Billion Fast Food Industry’s Low Wages

NEW YORK - June 27 - More than 100 fast food workers, policy experts, community leaders and clergy members appeared at a NYC Council hearing today to highlight the impact of the $200 billion fast food industry’s low wages, illegal wage theft, and dead end jobs on the city’s 50,000 fast food workers and the low-income communities of color they live and work in.

“When the $200 billion fast food industry pays it’s people minimum wage, you know who suffers? We all do,” said Fast Food Forward campaign director Jonathan Westin. “Taxpayers pick up the tab for their food stamps and homeless shelter. Landlords lose tenants when families are forced to double up. Shop owners lose customers when people can’t afford to buy any extras.”

“For fast-food workers who are supporting families, making ends meet can truly be a struggle; in New York City, it is almost impossible to put food on the table with the salary of even a full-time employee in a fast-food establishment,” said Councilman Mark Weprin.

Fast food industry workers make on average between $10,000 and $18,000 a year- below the poverty line- and 80% of them have had their pay illegally stolen over the last year.

“When I think I’m going to get paid for 35 hours at the end of the week, I’ll only see 30 on my check and not even know how that happened. I have direct deposit, but Burger King doesn’t make it easy to get your paystub, so it’s not like I can check how they calculated my money,” said Keon Joesph, 20, a Burger King worker in Brooklyn. “I can’t afford to have Burger King stealing money out of my paycheck. Paying for school, helping out with bills, it’s just so hard. We have to rely on food stamps to get by.”

The hearing comes on the heels of an explosive report in last month's New York Times about bounced checks, late payments, and forced hours off the clock plaguing workers in NYC's fast food industry -- and an announcement from NYS Attorney General Eric Schneiderman that his office is investigating the crime wave.

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