The big restaurant and delivery brands are having a lot of trouble with their staff lately. The staff is striking because they say “we can’t live of the wage we’re getting now”. Staffers are demanding to be paid at least 10 Pounds per hour. The last strike happened on October 4th.
McDonalds is saying that only a really small portion of their 120,000 workforce in the UK is paid less than 10 Pounds per hour. They’re calling the strike disappointing.
A lot of people who are working in the restaurants are being paid a low wage because it’s fairly easy to fill in the spots with students and young people. Older people who are completely reliant on their wage from McDonalds, Uber and Deliveroo can’t get ends meet because of the low pay. Less than 10 Pounds an hour is not a wage you can live on. You’ll make about 1600 Pounds before taxes a month. In big cities the rent alone would account for more than 60% of someone’s wage. Let alone paying for groceries, child care, car payments, etc.
(Getty images)
4.5 million people are employed in the hospitality sector alone in the UK. They represent about 10% of the total employment in the country. So a lot of people depend on them. More and more people around the world are striking to get better wages. The economy is on the rise. Employment rate is up so workers can demand more. In the US people in the hospitality sector are demanding wages of $15 per hour as a minimum wage.
A few big chains in the US have already or have said they will raise their wages to $15 per hour. We’ll be following the news in the UK to see how the big chains here are responding to the strikes and if they’ll fold to the demands made.