Thursday, March 7, 2013
McDonald's in Trouble Again!
The article, "McDonald's Franchises in Pennsylvania Accused of Exploiting Student Guest Workers" was written by Dave Jamieson on March 06, 2013 in The Huffington Post. The National Guestworker Alliance, a labor group representing foreign guest workers in the United States, has accused McDonald's franchises near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania of paying lower than legal wages to student guest workers, as well as housing them in unsafe and uncomfortable conditions. Students from Argentina, Peru, Chile, Malaysia, and other Asian and Latin American countries paid as much as $3,000 a person to travel to the U.S., work a typical U.S. student's job usually in the service or food industry, and learn the American culture. This cultural and educational program happens through J-1visas. On Wednesday, a number of students walked out their jobs at McDonald's because they believed their working and living conditions, which consisted of four hour work day's with less than $7.25 an hour, which is deduced by the housing fee, and eight people living in one room, was unfair and protests began in front of their jobs. The Labor Department has dealt with a similar situation, in which the student groups were paid extremely low wages to do tedious work at a Pennsylvania packing plant for Hershey chocolates, in which the Labor Department was able to obtain an agreement from Hershey's to pay the students $200,000 back in pay. Congress is currently trying to extensively change immigration reform, and labor groups have paid closer attention to guest worker visa programs.
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It is sad to see that huge companies such as McDonald's take advantage of people that desperately need money to survive. If they are giving the students a job, the pay should be at least minimum wage for the work that they are putting in. I think what those students did by walking out from their jobs was a brave choice in order to show McDonald's that what is was doing was wrong.
ReplyDeleteI wrote an article about a week ago about how McDonald's is starting to be.a 100% natural. Right when that happens, they take a step back with a stunt they tried to pull to save a couple dollars. It is a shame to hear news like this. McDonald's is a multimillion dollar franchise, and paying those students minimum wage would not cause any harm to them. That dollar per hour for that worker is the money that buys his/her food at the end of the day, but that couple dollars for McDonald's is like chum change. Hopefully the congress can take a couple million from McDonald's, so they can taste a little of their own medicine.
ReplyDeleteIt seems as though there is a negative article about McDonald's in the newspapers every other day. This one in particular is very disappointing. The fact that McDonald's feels that that they can take advantage of foreign students by paying them lower wages and providing them with unfair housing situations is despicable. They are lowering the standard of living for these students by cramming them into rooms with up to eight people and paying them well below the minimum wage in America. How are these students supposed to support themselves if they are not being payed properly? It is absurd and very manipulative. I am glad these students walked away from the job and actually stood up for themselves.
ReplyDeleteThis news about McDonald's is exceedingly disappointing. It feels as if the company is pushing the limits with not only unhealthiness, but also with unfair treatments for students. About a couple of weeks ago i read an article about McDonald's attempt to add a new, 100 percent natural, choice to the menu. That made me feel like they actually care about the future of the world. However, after reading this article, i feel that the company only uses people to make more money. What is more disappointing is that they targeted guest workers, whom they paid extremely low wages and put them in unhealthy environments. Those students rely on that money to live, but McDonald's does not rely on those couple of dollars that they saved by not paying the normal amount to them. If the students did not walk away from their terrible jobs, then they would be putting their own lives at risk for the greed of a multimillion dollar franchise.
ReplyDeleteThis is terrible! It is not uncommon to witness people taking advantageous of those who are helpless and unfamiliar with their surroundings. Unfortunately, I am not surprised that McDonald's committed such an act. They certainly do not care about the health of their consumers when blending all parts of the chicken(including the bones) to make their chicken nuggets. Therefore, why should they even care about the conditions of their workers? I am glad to hear that their crime was exposed and not gone unseen.
ReplyDeleteBy reading the first word of your title, "McDonalds", I could already tell this article was about to disappoint me. I was not surprised by the fact that the workers are taken advantage of because if they quit, they most likely do not have another job to fall back on. As Mariam said, I am also glad to hear that another one of McDonalds' faults have been noticed.
ReplyDeleteThese foreign exchange students come to America in order to attend school and become successful in the future. McDonald's companies do smart and sneaky business. They hire people who probably cannot find jobs anywhere else and they take advantage of them, knowing that they are the workers' only choice. McDonald's needs to be taught a serious lesson and has to learn to stop taking advantages of innocent people who do not know any better.
ReplyDeleteEvery time I read an article about McDonald's it is always negative. All the way from their food to the way they treat their workers, McDonald's is covered with flaws. I find it extremely unfair that these workers who are hardly supporting themselves have to work so hard and not even get the appropriate acknowledgment for it. As Hagop said, even that dollar is very important for the student because he or she can buy food with that. I hope McDonald's finally learns after so many disgusting incidents.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering when there would be more trouble with McDonald's. The company is flawed from the inside out. From the way their workers are treated to the way they make their food, every thing is disgusting. Some serious adjustment must be made as soon as possible.
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