The fast food industry has exploded since its humble start as seasonal drive-in restaurants. Encouraged by the huge increase in car owners, flashy drive-in restaurants with carhops grew rapidly through the 1940’s, until the McDonald brothers tried something radical in 1948: the restaurant kitchen could now function as a high speed assembly line.
Workers no longer needed experience and special skills: everything was simple, and as the years progressed, automated. The market for fast, cheap food led to the emergence of Dunkin’ Donuts in 1948, Kentucky Fried Chicken in 1952, Burger King in 1953, Taco Bell in 1962, and Wendy’s in 1969, all of which contribute to a culture of conflict between the expense of labour and the bottom line profit for stakeholders.
The fast food industry invests a lot of energy and money lobbying governments to limit new worker safety laws, food safety regulations, and minimum wages, all of which cut into profit margins. There are over 15 000 McDonald’s in North America, as of 2019. Two Canadian teens, backed by the Canadian Auto Workers, were able to organize the first ever union in a McDonald’s in 1998, in the hopes of improving working conditions, however, a few months later, the union disbanded.
-Why do you think that fast food restaurants would be so opposed to unions that there is a complete absence of them in the fast food industry?
