Alex Park is a writer and researcher in Oakland, California. He’s currently working on a book about the global rise of the fast-food industry.
As major fast-food corporations like McDonald’s and Taco Bell transformed into almost fully franchised operations, the chains created a system that shields them from accountability on labor issues while maintaining strict control over working conditions.
Uneven and unpredictable paychecks are on the rise for American workers. Income volatility doesn’t just make it harder to plan; it makes every unexpected expense a potential crisis.
Fast-food corporations opposed a California minimum wage increase under the guise of concern for workers, claiming it would result in lost jobs. The bill passed, and the numbers are in: that concern was just scaremongering.
The dire conditions of fast-food work cause enormous staff turnover, which puts franchisees in a constant search for desperate workers. It’s no wonder that one McDonald’s in England failed to notice that it was employing victims of human trafficking.
Citing labor shortages, Alabama prisons are accused of “leasing” inmates to McDonald’s and other fast-food chains —and taking a cut of their wages.
In the fast-food industry, worker stress is built into the system by design. The more unnatural and unsustainable the pace, the greater the corporate profits.
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