McDonald's is, after Wal-Mart, the nation's second-largest private employer, with 700,000 workers. And as the economy flags, and as more Americans seek cheaper food, that number is rising.
On April 19, McDonald's held a National Hiring Day and says that it brought in 62,000 new employees.
"We've got flexible schedules, benefits and jobs that can turn into satisfying careers," McDonald's' Web site said. Yet many people above the poverty line would never even consider working at McDonald's. The stigma of working at McDonald's is so culturally ingrained that since 2001 the Oxford English Dictionary has defined the neologism "McJob" as "an unstimulating, low-paid job with few prospects, esp. created by the expansion of the service sector."
Labor advocates are predictably in lockstep with the OED. "McDonald's is no worse than Burger King or Wendy's or anyone else in the fast-food industry," says Jose Oliva, national policy coordinator for Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, which advocates for food service workers nationwide. "But it pays the lowest wages possible. It starts people at minimum wage and then keeps them at a low wage for as long as they can get away with it." (Minimum wage is $8.25 in the (Washington D.C.) and $7.55 nationwide. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4.36 million American workers are paid minimum wage or less.) ...
www.ongo.com/v/1740466/10586/A6C6AAAAB8201A2F/whos-lovin-it-the-life-of-mcdonalds-workers
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