Fast-food workers, for whatever reason, believe they’re immune to the blowback and unintended consequences of the minimum wage. They think that there won’t be any ramifications to raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour.
As we reported this week (SEE: Fight for $15: Fast food worker can’t defend $15 minimum wage, ignores automation efforts), one fast-food employee, who’s a proponent of the Fight for $15 campaign, doesn’t think that McDonald’s and other chains will adopt automation initiatives, even though they’re already experimenting with and implementing the technology.
Speaking in an interview with the Fox Business Network, former McDonald’s USA CEO Ed Rensi revealed that it’s a lot cheaper for companies to purchase a $35,000 robot than it is to hire minimum wage workers at $15 an hour.
Essentially, huge scores of job losses are imminent and that it’s just common sense that businesses would replace humans with robots. He noted that a lot of business owners are already transitioning by taking humans out of the equation.
“I was at the National Restaurant Show yesterday and if you look at the robotic devices that are coming into the restaurant industry – it’s cheaper to buy a $35,000 robotic arm than it is to hire an employee who’s inefficient making $15 an hour bagging French fries,” Rensi said. “It’s nonsense and it’s very destructive and it’s inflationary and it’s going to cause a job loss across this country like you’re not going to believe.”
Following the remarks made by Rensi, a spokesperson for McDonald’s UK said that it is not planning to replace workers with robots.
“The suggestion that McDonald’s is planning to replace employees with robots is completely untrue. Our staff are vital to our business and in the UK alone we employ over 110,000 people who serve 3.7m customers every day.”
But is it just the fast-food industry that’s embracing this automation concept? Apparently not, says Rensi.
He stated that franchising is presently the best business model in the United States today, and it will amplify with automation.
“It’s dependent on people that have low job skills that have to grow,” Rensi added. “Well if you can’t get people a reasonable wage, you’re going to get machines to do the work. It’s just common sense. It’s going to happen whether you like it or not. And the more you push this it’s going to happen faster.”
One solution he puts forward is to eliminate the federal minimum wage and allow the states to manage it. (In reality, the minimum wage should be abolished altogether).
“I think we ought to have a multi-faceted wage program in this country. If you’re a high school kid, you ought to have a student wage. If you’re an entry level worker you ought to have a separate wage. The states ought to manage this because they know more [about] what’s going on the ground than anybody in Washington D.C.,” he said.
Indeed, automation is a natural concept in business. If there is a way to cut down on costs and improve production then owners will use it. However, raising the minimum wage to such a level amplifies the automative efforts by companies all over in any industry.
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