'I'm Still Making $8 an Hour':Working in Fast-Food During the Pandemic
Fast food workers are experiencing hour cuts, unsafe working conditions, understaffing, and constant pressure to meet time-to-order rates and quotas during the coronavirus pandemic.
41 year old Tina Watson, a cashier at Wendy’s in Holly Hill, South Carolina has seen her work schedule reduced from around 30 hours a week to around 10 hours a week due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Watson makes only $8 an hour, and was already struggling to keep up with bills, afford groceries, and take care of her 11 year old son during the pandemic. Now with the reduced schedule, no pay increase for working during the pandemic or any paid time off, it’s become even more difficult for her to make ends meet.
“I’m still making $8 an hour. My check isn’t half of what I was making before the pandemic. The savings I had, I’m all out because I needed to make sure my son and I had what we needed during the pandemic,” said Watson. “I don’t know how I’m going to be able to keep what we got, keep our lights on, and get food that we need.”
Fast food workers are considered essential positions, as fast food restaurants around the US have maintained drive-thru and delivery options during the coronavirus pandemic. Many workers in fast food explained they are not being provided proper personal protective equipment while working during the pandemic, adequate pay or sick leave, and many restaurant chains aren’t providing any additional wage increase for workers during the pandemic.
“Fast food workers like many across the economy have faced economic and health insecurity from the spread of COVID-19. The vast majority have jobs that cannot be done from home, and as a result they either face layoffs and economic insecurity or are deemed essential and face substantial health risks just by going to work,” said Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute.
Breana Conklin, a Taco Bell employee in Kansas City, Missouri makes the state minimum wage, $9.45 an hour, which remains unchanged even during the pandemic.
“No pay increase, no incentives. Lines have been pretty long and we are still being yelled at about our out-the-door order times,” said Conklin. “Nothing has changed except what they have to change legally. We just now got masks to optionally wear.”
Eric Dye, a Taco Bell employee in the Huntington, West Virginia area, is making just over $9 an hour during the pandemic, and has experienced cuts to his schedule as a result of the in-store dining being shut down for the pandemic.
“I don’t think it’s right everybody else is getting $2 more an hour for the hazard pay and we’re not getting it,” said Dyer. “It’s a rough time with everything going on. All of our hours got cut and with us not making anything, some of us have to go without stuff we really need. Our bills are behind because the hours were cut.”
A Taco Bell employee outside of Chicago, Illinois who requested to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation explained that despite the dining room closure due to the pandemic, workers have been expected to continue business as usual in meeting out the door time goals per order and workers don’t have time to change gloves or wash their hands on a regular basis because of it.
“Those times weren’t changed with the circumstances. I do think they could’ve given us a little bit of leeway,” said the worker. They noted workers had to learn how to fulfill UberEats orders during the pandemic, in addition to continuing DoorDash and GrubHub orders.“We still get emails saying our times or customer surveys aren’t good enough. That’s all they care about. It seems like we get more emails per week regarding customer satisfaction than we do employee cleanliness.”
Taco Bell isn’t offering workers any additional wage increase or hazard pay for working during the pandemic, and did not comment on the lack of hazard pay for workers.
Taco Bell workers in Michigan announced on May 16 over 250 employees pushed their franchise owner, SRS Management, to provide workers with $2 an hour hazard pay, a back pay bonus, and paid time off.
“We have always been sensitive to customer and team members’ feedback and our goals are not intended to sacrifice the safety of our team members for positive customer satisfaction surveys,” said a Taco Bell spokesperson. They cited workers at company owned restaurants (less than ten percent of all Taco Bell locations) are eligible to receive up to 24 hours of paid sick leave per year and will be offered full pay for quarantining, and have encouraged franchisees to match the policy.
Ariel Nix, an employee at fast food chain Bojangles outside of Atlanta, Georgia for 8 years, started a petition on CoWorker during the coronavirus pandemic calling for the company to provide workers with paid sick leave and enact safety protections for workers during the pandemic.
“Corporate and our franchise owner weren’t addressing anything. It was very business as usual,” said Nix. “Even before the pandemic, I worked there for 8 years in all levels of management and I was underpaid, never given any health benefits, never given paid sick leave, and workers are really pressured to come in even if we are sick.”
Nix quit at the end of March, citing safety concerns and the lack of action from Bojangles in protecting workers and providing them with fair compensation, as workers’ hourly wages remained unchanged during the pandemic.
A Bojangles spokesperson did not comment on complaints about low wages, but stated in an email, “Bojangles’ takes the safety and well-being of our team members very seriously, and we are closely following the latest guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).”
Wendy’s did not respond to multiple requests for comment on this story.
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