The average wage for an NHS nurse is £9 per hour, yet McDonald’s workers went on strike to demand £15 per hour earlier this week.
Dubbed the ‘McStrike’, thousands of workers across the UK stopped flipping burgers to join the event organised by International Union of Food Workers.
Workers uniting for better conditions and wages would be applauded where there’s injustice, but how can they justify this unrealistic demand.
There are some genuine reasons for the strike, with workers’ angry at zero-hour contracts and youth rates, but the wage proposal makes a complete mockery of these concerns.
It’s important to stress that NHS nurses ought to be earning more than the £9 an hour they do, but these workers should feel ashamed for demanding to overtake them by £6.
Most of us love a McDonald’s, but there’s no way flipping burgers, grilling buns and warming up our apple pies should earn you £105 after a shift of seven hours.
The company has been used by young people as a first job for decades, and these workers typically leave to take on graduate roles or start an apprenticeship.
If the wages were so high, then there’d be no incentive to leave and break into a skilled profession or trade, trapping thousands of youngsters in the fast food business for life.
As for the older workers, it’s a shame crew members are paid the average wage of £7.61, but it’s important to remember this isn’t accountancy. It’s fast food.
It may sound harsh to undermine the great job these people do, but when the demands are so outrageous, there’s no place for hedging opinions. The job just isn’t worth that.
As McDonald’s is a private company, you could argue it’s not the taxpayers’ business to worry about a pay rise, but when it insults our NHS staff, it should be called out.
These are the views of the author and not necessarily those of Mancunian Matters or associated companies.
