2.+Behind+the+Counter


 * Chapter 3: Behind the Counter**

Colorado Springs was once an inconspicuous town. The town's strategic position attracted the attentions of the military during World War II, and it has been a center for military technology ever since. Thus, Colorado Springs has since changed into an area of industrial and economic growth. Surprisingly, it is the fast-food industry that is employing the most people in the area. In this chapter, Schlosser mainly analyzes how teens are a major source of employees for the fast-food industry and how the industry has come to dominate in worker-employee relationships.

Teens are the ideal workers for the fast-food industry; they are desperate, unskilled, and controllable. Schlosser visited the area's local ("lower class") high school and found that many of the kids were sacrificing their education in order to make money and life a glamorized "hip-hop" lifestyle that includes expensive clothes, accessories, and cars. A large population of teenagers allows the fast-food industry to perpetuate its system of minimal training, minimal expenses, and high turnover rates. In fact, the major fast-food brands even came together to design a system where it's "easier to do the correct thing" than to make a mistake. The scheduling is manipulated to percent employees from getting paid with overtime rates as well. There are many cases of tremendous abuses of power--for instance, a teenager worked over 80 hours a week and was only compensated for 40 hours at regular wage. With this system, it takes less time and money to train employees and the effects of losing a worker are not as significant.

The fast-food industry has also shown much proficiency in handling the complaints of workers. Techniques such as public humiliation/praise, instilling "fun" into the workplace, and the use of corporate power to outmuscle workers are commonly used. This explains why labor unions are not common in the fast food industry. The giants have a slew of lawyers, money, and guidelines to outmaneuver the efforts of the workers. For example, when a McDonald's was under fire, it fired ever single one of its workers, moved and set up a block away, and rehired anyone who did not join the labor union that was gaining ground. At this point the thought of even starting a union rarely passes through the thoughts of fast-food employees.

Having a job in the fast food industry is not of major importance to a worker. Should they get fired or want to quit, another fast-food chain is nearby to accept them. However, there have been many cases of crime and retaliation in the fast-food industry. Fast-food chains oftentimes have a huge amount of money in one store just from the daily profits. With no protection, the workers are often subject to robberies, with which murders are commonly associated. A shocking find showed that the criminals were usually past employees, either disgruntled with their jobs or aware of how to make quick cash.


 * Opposing Viewpoint**

Obviously, the fast-food industry is "following" the rules if they are still able to receive millions in government subsidies. The company says their policy complies fully with the law and that the benefits are not required in the official regulations. The fast-food chains claim that their competitive edge against others would be lost if they complied with the demands of labor unions. In a race to attract more customers by lowering the prices of food, fast-food giants sacrifice the benefits of their workers to minimize monetary losses.

Labor unions have been shown to increase employee wages, something McDonald's opposes in its efforts to keep wages low in order to continue its massive and fast expansion.