I consider myself something of a french fry connoisseur. Matchstick thin, crinkly chubby, curly and seasoned, I know my way around a fry. Some of my favorite french fries are the ones McDonald’s makes. Straight from the fryer, they are, hands down, the best fast-food fries produced in the country. And I say that with confidence even though there are 40 U.S. states I’ve never even stepped foot in.
Those sentences feel like a bold confession, but I’d like to get even more personal with you, if that’s all right, and talk about fast-food workers’ rights. It may seem like a departure from granola and sweet Babette on The Snack House, but it’s an issue that’s as close to my heart as other food topics I care about–like intimate meals with friends and lovingly handed down heirloom recipes.
Today, fast-food workers and their supporters in over 100 U.S. cities protested to demand higher pay and the right to unionize. The photos from around the country are stirring–many people in the cold, some out before the sun rose, coming together to stand up for themselves and others is just plain moving to me.
In this uncertain economy and in an industry where the majority of workers cannot make ends meet on their wages alone, it takes a lot of guts to put one’s livelihood on the line and stand up publicly to demand better treatment. Their courage has me thinking about my role as a french-fry lover in our food ecosystem.
In the last decade the local and sustainable food movement has made enormous strides in changing the conversation around food. Today, considering the sourcing of ingredients (local? organic? chemical-free? sustainable?) is a central part of food ethics. It’s a hip (and expensive) privilege to eat locally sourced, sustainably grown beets and pork and farro. But when I see these courageous fast-food workers and groups like ROC United I see an effort to expand our food ethics a little wider to include consideration of not just the food itself but also the people who farm, harvest, cook, deliver, stock and serve the food, whether it’s organic or not. Are those people treated with dignity and respect? Do they get bathroom breaks? When they get sick or injured, can they take time off work without fearing they’ll lose their jobs? Can they work without fear of being sexually assaulted? For far too many food workers, the answers to these questions are no and no and no and no.
Striking fast-food workers are calling for a $15 minimum wage, a hefty increase from the current federal minimum wage of $7.25, but one that some economists–and more importantly to me, workers themselves–say is necessary for the large swath of U.S. workers who make up the growing low-wage economy to stay afloat. I listened to a debate on the radio today about the economic feasibility of such a wage increase, and got so annoyed at the clearly partisan nature of the conversation that I tuned it out. I regret doing that–I’m not an economics expert, and I’d like to hear rebuttals to claims that raising the minimum wage will just encourage further automation of low-wage work.
But in the immediate, what do today’s protests mean for us consumers on the other side of the counter? Where is our place in this debate? I’m starting with the basics today. For me that means listening to, and sharing with you, the calls for better treatment from people who make the fries I love so much.
photo by Steve Rhodes (via Flickr/Creative Commons)