Since Burger King released their new “healthier” fry last week, I’ve been humming to myself, “Are you satisfried, are you satisfri-ied?” to the Lauryn Hill song “I find it hard to say”; I have to say it is quite catchy. Burger King launching a new ad campaign for slim fries, seems fitting on the foot heels of the largest fast food strike ever in history. Why would they want to talk about slimming CEO compensation and paying their workers more, when they can attempt to widen their profits by pushing crinkly fries?
And while the people sleep, fast-food workers in St. Louis, Missouri are taking action every Friday to demand $15 and the right to form a union without retaliation. Last week, dozens of fast-food workers along with community people stood in line at several fast-food restaurants across the city; occupied space; and talked to other workers and customers to draw attention to their fight.
“It’s only right, this job is not easy, these aren’t kids,” a customer in line at Wendy’s on Gravois spoke with one of the community members, “Once a year, I ask my congregation if they would give .25 more to make sure that these workers that serve them don’t have to go hungry themselves, it’s only right.” Thanks reverend, but we’re not asking the customers to pay more, we want the corporations to pay workers what they deserve, and they deserve more.
Rebel! Shake Shack, a burger chain is switching from crinkle cut to hand cut, and that’s not the only place where they deviate from decently satisfried; along with several other fast-food restaurants Shake Shack offers a "good jobs" model that supports the hypothesis “… if you pay it forward, you'll have loyal employees who will help improve sales," said CEO John Pepper of Boloco, Massachusetts based burrito chain.
Fast-food workers are rebelling as well, not against the cafeteria crinkly fries, but against poverty wages. “If [other workers] aren’t mad then they should be. That is the only way that things will change, when we stand together,” said Doniesha Babbitt, 19, STL735.