McDonald's wage hike comes with something more: paid time off
| Washington
The fast-food giant McDonald鈥檚 snagged attention by announcing that it will start paying at least $1 above minimum wage. Just as important, though, may be this new idea: adding paid time off to the benefits menu, even for part-time workers.
That鈥檚 a benefit many US workers in low-wage service jobs don鈥檛 have. It puts some money behind the notion that workers deserve not just a break but some longer times away from work.
And it gives flexibility when workers feel torn between family needs, like caring for a sick child and earning a paycheck.
Some 43 million private sector US workers don鈥檛 have sick-leave benefits, according to the White House. And just , according to a 2013 report by the Center for Economic Policy Research. That鈥檚 compared with 90 percent among the top 25 percent.
The moves on both pay and benefits are incremental rather than revolutionary. For one thing, they apply only to the 10 percent of McDonald鈥檚 restaurants that are company-owned. Some 90,000 workers will be affected, while the move also puts some symbolic pressure on McDonald鈥檚 franchises to follow suit.
Critics of McDonald鈥檚 say they still plan to keep protesting for further boosts in wages and benefits 鈥� including many activists uniting behind a 鈥淔ight for 15鈥� goal of $15 an hour.
But the moves announced Wednesday by the nation鈥檚 largest restaurant chain hint at what economists say is a tightening labor market, where companies increasingly feel they need to compete for workers and for the loyalty of customers.
Wal-Mart, Target, and TJX (parent of T.J. Maxx and Marshalls) are among the other low-wage firms that have offered pay hikes recently.
Labor leaders say that campaigns to promote the idea of living wages have also put public pressure on the companies.
鈥淢ake no mistake, McDonald鈥檚 didn鈥檛 wake up one day and just decide to raise wages for its worker,鈥� AFL-CIO leader Richard Trumka said Thursday.
The movement is about more than wages, he added: 鈥淚t鈥檚 about overtime protections. It鈥檚 about paid leave. It鈥檚 about a voice on the job. It鈥檚 a movement to create a lasting economy that works for everyone.鈥�
Politics at the state and local level, influenced partly by the union-backed activism, are also part of the equation that companies are looking at.
Last fall, for example, California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed into law a measure requiring employers to offer at least three days paid sick leave to full- and part-time workers.听
McDonald鈥檚 CEO Steve Easterbrook, in announcing the company鈥檚 new policies, said paid time off is something many workers want.
鈥淲e've listened to our employees and learned that 鈥� in addition to increased wages 鈥� paid personal leave and financial assistance for completing their education would make a real difference in their careers and lives," he said.
An employee who works 20 hours per week will be eligible for about 20 hours of paid time off per year, the company said in describing the new benefit, which will start in July. If workers don't take the time off, they鈥檒l get pay instead.
Meanwhile, starting wages at the company-owned restaurants will be one dollar over the locally-mandated minimum wage, starting in July. Other workers will see their pay 鈥渁djusted accordingly based on tenure and job performance,鈥� said the firm, which is based in Oak Brook, Ill.
That鈥檚 not what the Fight for 15 protesters are hoping for. Even with the raise, no one is about to confuse fast-food employment with middle-class jobs.
But it鈥檚 a significant change in benefits and pay 鈥� one that should push the firm鈥檚 average wages above $10 an hour by the end of 2016, the company says. And in a nod to the fact that workers want upward mobility beyond that, McDonald鈥檚 is also enhancing its Archways to Opportunities program of education assistance.
Lots of low-wage workers in America 鈥� at McDonald鈥檚 and other employers 鈥� don鈥檛 currently get paid sick days or paid time off.
Only 30 percent of private-sector workers in the bottom quarter of the wage pool get paid sick leave, while 84 percent in the top quarter do, according to Labor Department data. The government numbers also show a sharp divide in sick days between full- and part-time workers. Three-quarters of full-time workers in the private sector have the benefit, while only one-fourth of part-time workers do.
In his State of the Union address in January, President Obama called for passage of a Healthy Families Act to provide paid sick days to private sector US workers who don鈥檛 have sick-leave benefits.
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听In a similar vein, he also proposed $2 billion in funding to encourage more states to assist families that can鈥檛 afford to take unpaid leave to care for a new baby or ill family member.
