Fast food is a staple of American culture, but some of its employees are struggling to survive

Content of the article

Fresno, Texas (AP) – The only time Tianna Jeianna Weldell is with her is when she’s sleeping, and that doesn’t happen very often.

Content of the article

Content of the article

A 44-year-old single mother works three jobs for 80 weeks to provide for her children, ages 8, 14, and 18. During the day, he is a pizza hut driver, where he gets an hour of pizza before tips. At night, he cleans trains for the Houston Metro system, where he earns about $17 an hour.

The times she pulls both shifts, Yaldell sleeps two to three hours before getting her kids ready for school. After that he is doing it again.

Content of the article

YeltelLL is among the millions of fast food workers in the US SCRAPINS TO WORK. About two-thirds of them are women, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and most support their families on as little as $7.25 an hour. Fast food workers are Hispanic, making up 24.6% of the sector’s workforce compared to 18.8% of the full-time workforce. And more than half of all fast food workers are 20 or older.

President Donald Trump, who set up a fry station at Pendonald’s in Pennsylvania while on the campaign trail last year, has admitted that the Federal minimum wage is “too low” and that he will raise it. “

Meanwhile, a growing number of states have pushed to raise their minimum wage in the face of renewed energy spending in recent years. For example, California – which has one of the highest cost of living in the country – in April raised the pay of fast food workers, to $20 an hour from $16 an hour. By the end of this year, 23 countries and 65 cities will raise their wage floors, according to the report of the National Project 2024 made by law across the country.

Content of the article

Content of the article

But not Texas, where Yeltell and his family live. It is one of 20 states to Replay 7.25 Federal minimum wage forever and that level did not reach 2009. Democratic brokers in Texas have repeatedly proposed legislation to raise certain wages. Land acquisition laws, which exist in Texas and many other states, prevent cities and counties from getting their ordinances in place, presenting another obstacle.

Today, the living wage for a single adult raising three children in the Houston Metro area is $57.65 an hour, according to the mit’s living wage calculator. For Yeldell, it is impossible to get through his food job only, which is why he has to work a second job.

He’s wearing his visor and a gray “Nobody Gets Out of Pizzas” shirt, tossing it aside after a recent job change. He takes a moment to relax before changing to looney tunes and a yellow t-shirt, arranging fajitas for dinner, and packing up the leftovers.

“I don’t want to work two jobs – I’m really tired. But I have to, because the jobs don’t pay enough,” said Yallell. “I will not be able to provide a roof over my children’s head.”

Content of the article

These accompanying pressures have reached out to pizza hut, and its parent company, yum brands, to comment on the wages of fast food workers but they have not heard back.

Wages are one of the many issues fast food workers face. Unpredictable hours, limited access to paid sick leave, and challenging customer interactions have all shaped their experience, said Daniel Schneider, a Harvard-affiliated California, San Francisco Project researching service worker conditions.

Wage theft and other violations are also common in the industry, added Labor Scholar David Madland, a major figure in the center of American progress.

“The fast food industry is notorious for low pay and poor working conditions,” said Landland. “It seems like a typical throwaway exercise for a very concerned policy.”

Yallell’s Pizza Hut Deliveres sometimes goes on the go until 11 pm carrying a knife in his pocket, and a flashlight, to keep him safe.

Despite the challenges, Yeldell maintains a positive outlook on his work, which he started a year and a half ago as a delivery driver and has learned to do everything “in his Fresno.

Content of the article

“Pizza Hut is a really easy job and a job is only difficult if you make it difficult,” he said. “And I’m a fast learner, so it doesn’t bother me.”

Compare Texas to California, which now has the lowest fast food wages of any state when lawmakers passed a $20 minimum wage for those workers.

Angelica Hernandez, 51, who has worked in various McDonald’s restaurants for 20 years, and now works for the Monterey Park location in Los Angeles County, said this process helped in its hiring, pay close attention to the More money “in the grocery store. But most of the increase was swallowed by the $ 200 Rent the latest.

“We need more so we can save money and buy clothes without having to spend every two weeks or have to use credit,” she said.

Critics of the new texts say that continuing to raise the minimum wage is not the answer, arguing that they raise prices and reduce job opportunities for people who are already struggling.

“When you see a spike in operating costs in a surprisingly short period of time, it creates challenges,” said Jot Condie, President and CEO of the California Restaurant Association, which opposed the legislation. He added that franchisees, small business owners, were hurt the most.

Content of the article

But a September report from the University of California, Berkeley’s Center for Research on Work and Employment called the effects of higher wages “higher, and found that the policy did not reflect the higher prices and increased prices by about 3.7%, or about 15 cents $4 hamburger.

For Yaldell, increasing the minimum wage in Texas “would be fair.”

“If other states can change, so can they,” he said.

Friday morning at 7 a.m., Jeltell takes a small walk in the nature of the bus, then drives his daughter across town to finish her senior photos before her pizza hut shift begins. In a photo shoot, she and her daughter pose for a selfie against a backdrop that reads “class of ’25.” Yeldell is wearing a royal blue dress that reads “faith” in white cursive writing, his daughter in a black hat and a scarf.

“Being a mother, I do what I have to do for my children,” she said.

But for all his hard work, Yallell says family cannot be saved. In good months, he says he has about $100 left over. Usually, he has nothing.

“At the end of the day, I’ve worked all these hours and I don’t really have anything to show for it, but I’m just paying some bills,” she said.

___

Women associated with the labor force and federal government receive financial support from Pivotal Ventures. AP is responsible for all content. Find the AP Standards for Philanthropies, list of supporters and funded sites at AP.ORG.

Content of the article