Minimum Wage | The Adobo Chronicles

Image Credit: www.gannsdeen.com — Image Credit: http://www.gannsdeen.com

SAN JOSE, California (The Adobo Chronicles ) –The never-ending, ever-escalating fast food rivalry between McDonald’s and that fat stupid happy bee once again comes to the fore.

McDonald’s has announced that it will increase its workers’ minimum wage by $1 above the locally -mandated minimum in 1,500 stores, starting July 1. That’s expected to lift the incomes of 90,000 workers, the company said in a press release. By the end of 2016, the average wage of McDonald’s workers should be $10, well above the federal minimum of $7.25, noted the company in the release.

Additionally, McDonald’s announced it will allow workers who have a one-year tenure at the company to accrue paid vacation time of up to 20 hours per year.

Today, McDonald’s arch enemy (get it? McDonald’s arch?), Jollibee, announced an employee package that puts the red-headed clown to shame.

Jollibee announced that all workers in its U.S. and Canada stores will receive twice the locally-mandated minimum wage, plus a generous benefits package that would include two weeks of paid sick and two weeks of paid vacation; an employer-paid medical, vision and dental insurance; a 5% employer contribution toward employee 401K retirement funds; and housing rental allowance of $500 a month.

This is over and above free employee meals during their work shifts of chicken joy, spaghetti and unlimited soda. Employees working the early morning shift will have free Jollibee breakfast of garlic fried rice, eggs and their choice of longganisa, tocino or bangus, with coffee or orange juice.

Upon hearing of Jollibee’s announcement, the Filipino fast food restaurant’s website was inundated with job applications, with majority of resumes indicating that they are current employees of McDonald’s. There were a few resumes from Filipinos working at Google, Apple, Facebook, Twitter, eBay and Yahoo! The applicants were hoping to be employed in Jollibee’s San Jose, Milpitas, Daly City and Union City stores.

Bentonville, Arkansas (The Adobo Chronicles) – Last October, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon announced future plans regarding wages at the big box giant chain store so that no worker is paid the federally mandated minimum of $7.25 an hour.

In an interview on Wednesday morning, he appeared to have set himself a deadline of early 2015 for this change.

“We’re going to make changes in a few months that will create a situation where no Walmart associate in the United States makes federal minimum wage,” McMillon told ‘CBS This Morning’ co-host Charlie Rose in a rare, fairly wide-ranging sit-down discussion.

McMillon, who at 48 is the youngest CEO of Walmart since founder Sam Walton, agreed with Rose’s assertion that the perception of Walmart — as a low-wage, dead-end employer, doubtlessly — differs from the reality of the business he runs.

McMillon’s announcement angered thousands of Walmart associates who, along with their allies in the labor movement, have been protesting working conditions and wages at the world’s largest private employer for the last three years. “Now we’ll even be paid below the federal wage,” they said in protest.

It was, of course, a misunderstanding of what McMillon said during the interview. What he really wanted to say was that no Walmart employee will be paid the minimum wage and that instead, they will be paid above the minimum wage.

It looks like McMillon’s communications manager is not doing a good job.