The local news/talk station had a little blip about how fast food workers here in Tampa and across the nation are doing a one-day strike. Apparently they want $15/hr and to unionize.

Really? How is that going to help you?

Let’s go over this again. Wages are the price paid by an organization for a person’s time and expertise. When you are at the low end (like fast food), it’s mostly for your time. Like every other price, wages reflect the value provided by what is being purchased. Artificially raising the price of labor does not increase it’s value. If anything, it makes the labor less valuable, and the organization will respond to those incentives by reducing the amount purchased (reducing hours/employees) or find another source (automation). The worst outcome for everyone would be that the owners of the business decides that it is no longer in their best interest to continue and shuts down.

Unionizing low-skilled workers does nothing but drive the price up for those workers while reducing those workers’ paychecks through dues. They can’t guarantee quality of worker for the employer, and because unions are focused on protecting all of their members, they depress the potential earnings of high-performers.

It’s interesting to see people protesting to cut their own necks because of the gilded lies they’ve been told.