A word of caution to striking fast food workers:
"You can be replaced: McDonalds recently went on a hiring binge in the U.S., adding 62,000 employees to its roster. The hiring picture doesn’t look quite so rosy for Europe, where the fast food chain is drafting 7,000 touch-screen kiosks to handle cashiering duties. The move is designed to boost efficiency and make ordering more convenient for customers...Automation becomes more and more of an option as our technology advances continue to expand exponentially. And automation usually is used to replace low-end, low-skilled workers – like those in fast food restaurants. That’s an unfortunate truth."
I went to a grocery store recently, and when I got up to the check out stand, there was no checkers there. I looked around for a minute, and then a friendly man - all smiles - pointed me over to the 'self check out' stand and asked me if I needed assistance using it.
Isn't technology a wonderful thing? I know companies - like grocery stores and banks - say that these 'self checkout stands (or ATM's, in the case of banks) are for 'our customer's convenience. I don't believe that for one minute! Businessmen (and businesswomen) know that to stay competitive they have to cut costs to the bone - and one of the biggest costs to a business is labor.
I've worked most of my life in the food industry (and I never made $15 an hour!). For many years I worked on dairy farms. I remember years ago when dairy farmers were just starting to implement automation in their milking parlors. I was the lead milker, and I had a full time helper. I knew that once this automation was complete my helper's job was going to dry up. He was going to be fired. And I was going to do the job by myself - with a little help from the automatic take off machines!
The Bible says: "If a man will not work, neither should he eat." 2 Thessalonians 3:10. But there is a difference between someone telling the government: "I will not work: you take care of me!" and someone who really wants to work and can't find a job. Or, in the case of the striking fast food workers, someone who is trying to support a family on a very low paying job, and has to work a second full time job just to make ends meet.
This is a real opportunity for Christians to put their faith into practice. And maybe those with gifts and talents in business and industry could forgo the trend to replace human workers with machines, and trust God to take care of their bottom line!
Recommended reading (my post):
How Much Money Would You Pay for a Big Mac?
