Fat food: The main elements of employment systems in the US

The fast food industry in the USA experienced a very steep growth in the 1970s. This was attributed to the strong economy at the time, as well as,women’sThe paper looks at the employment system in the USA, in relation to the case study.

Lack of a strong unionization characterizes employment in the country in relation to fast food industry. When compared to other countries, American employers have much greater freedom to establish the conditions of employment and termination. A classical example is the McDonald’s. At one point the management of the restaurant gave the authority to branch managers to terminate employees at the branch level (Leidner, 2002).This is attributed the extremely low rates of unionization in the country. While law guarantees the right to form unions, no law requires the employees to be granted a voice in their condition of employment. In addition to this ambiguity, there is no statutory work council in the united states.

Weakness in the United States of America Federal and State law play a big role in conditions of employment. There is an established minimum wage,predeterminednumber of work hours for children, the types of work to be conducted, as well as regulating the establishment and conduct of collective bargaining (Goldman & Corrada, 2011).The McDonald at one time turned to employing college students when their older employees were on a series of strikes. In the law, this was legal, but in turn, it infringed the efforts by the older employees to fight for their rights. However, employers in the united states may make decisions and establish policies without intervention of the Federal and State government(Leidner, 2002 pg 6). The absence of legislation mandating many kinds of prerogatives to workers greatly enhances American employers’ freedom of action. The American law endows workers with few positive rights, and imposes minimal restrictions on the employers by stating what they cannot engage in doing. For example, issuance of benefits such as paid maternity and paternity are provided at the discretion of the employers, for the law does not mandate it. The only kind of compensation stipulated by the federal law is that requiring the employers to contribute to the retirement benefits and unemployment insurance (Ritzer, 2009).

Trends influence the growth of business and employment. The expansion experienced in the number of ladies in paid vacations implied that there was expanded family unit wage and diminished the time accessible for meal planning. This fact led to the growth of fast food industries, as most families were opting to eat out. The increase in single parent families within the states also led to the growth of the fast food. Demographic trends also influence growth of industries(Leidner, 2002 pg 7). An example is the fast food industries where the availability of teenagers and little experienced population availed the much-needed labor for the industry.

Employment process in the united states has been changing with time as most organizations go the franchise way (Coltrane, 2011, pg 64). This ensures that employers do not directly engage staff, but rather, they are employed by franchises. The fast-food corporations set wage and benefits levels for workers in company-owned outlets, but they cannot dictate the compensation of the employees(Leidner, 2002 pg. 9). Wages, and to a lesser extent fringe benefits,therefore, do vary with local labour market conditions and with franchises’ideas about how best to balance compensation costs and profitability. In any case, the vocation methodology pushed by the organizations is to utilize the least cost work accessible, to keep turnover inside adequate breaking points by giving laborers “distinguished” and “fun” working environment instead of expanded recompense, and to minimize the amount of specialists on any given movement(Leidner 2013, pg. 22).

References

Coltrane, S. (2011). Gender and families,(3rded). Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press.

Goldman, A., Corrada, R. & Goldman, A. (2011).Labour law in the USA. 1st ed. Alphen anden Rijn: Kluwer Law International.

Leidner, R. (2002). Fast-food work in the United States. In R. Tony, & T. Brian, Labour Relations in the Global Fast-food Industry (p. 8). East Sussex, UK: Psychology Press.

Leidner, R. (2013). Fast Food, Fast Talk: Service Work and the Routinization of Everyday Life.Berkeley, CA: University of California.

Ritzer, G. (2011). The McDonaldization of society 6. 1st ed. Los Angeles: Pine Forge.