Sheldon Richman on How to Help Fast-Food Workers
This week, fast-food workers have engaged in 24-hour strikes throughout America to bring attention to their struggle to make ends meet. They have been demanding an increase in the minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 an hour and the right to organize unions. Doubling the minimum wage may seem like a good way to help fast-food workers, but as Sheldon Richman points out, it would hurt them instead. So what should we do? We must sweep away the government-created barriers to income earning, barriers that protect established businesses from competition and rob the most vulnerable people of options.
