Should McDonald’s Boost its Wages? Bernie Sanders Seems to Think So

McDonald's Boost Wages

The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) have both just recently announced they were raising their minimum wage to $15 an hour. Yesterday, Vermont’s Senator Bernie Sanders publicly called out McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) CEO Steve Easterbrook on his company’s minimum wage policy. Should McDonald’s boost wages?

Should McDonald’s Boost Wages? Bernie Sanders vs. McDonald’s

“If McDonald’s raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour and respected the constitutional rights of your workers to form a union, it would set an example for the entire fast food industry to follow,” Sanders wrote in his letter.

The Vermont Senator said he’s talked to employees of the fast food joint and they’ve complained that their current pay makes getting by extremely difficult and many need federal assistance. Sanders adds that McDonald’s isn’t a poor company and raised $5.2 billion in profits last year. 

However, if McDonald’s boosts its wages, there could be consequences. The company has already started installing electronic ordering systems in their restaurants, bypassing the need for more employees at the counters. 

When Amazon announced it was raising its wage to $15 an hour, it later announced that it would be removing its monthly bonuses and stock awards. Amazon’s response was its employees would prefer the “predictability and immediacy of cash” compared to its award and bonus system.

If McDonald’s boosts wages, it remains unknown what catch they might throw in. 

The People Speak Out 

Not everyone was a fan of Sanders’ letter though. One person responded to his letter and said:

The conversation continued with another Twitter user jumping in:

There is a trend among these comments that has to do with low-paid employees being replaced by automation. Is this the future if McDonald’s boosts wages, or other companies for that matter?

What are your thoughts? Should McDonald’s boost wages? Let us know in the comments below.

MCD Stock Movement

According to Yahoo Finance, MCD is currently trading at $166.80 a share, up $1.00 (0.60%).

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