Watch fast-food workers explain why a living wage is good for the economy

Need a quick explanation about why the low-wage, anti-union business model of many fast-food companies is bad for the economy?

Watch these fast-food workers in the U.S. explain. Paid on average an hourly wage of $8.90, they’re fighting for a $15 wage (above the minimum wage in Canada) and the right to unionize without retaliation.

(Their movement got a boost last week when the National Labor Relations Board handed McDonald’s Corporation a big blow. The board, dealing with complaints about intimidation for pro-union activities at independently owned franchises, ruled the corporation is jointly responsible for the treatment of employees.)

“If you make a living wage, guess what? You’re going to spend the money. And if you spend the money, it goes into the economy. And if it goes into the economy, then the economy goes up. And if the economy goes up, everybody goes up,” explains Dr. Reverend William Barber of the North Carolina chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in the clip below.

He added: “I don’t mind working, but after I work, I want to be able to live — and feed my children and pay my rent and put gas in my car.”

Photo: Steve Rhodes. Used under a Creative Commons BY-ND-NC 2.0 licence.