Everyone wants a cheap pizza. We have become a nation striving after low-cost food. We idle our cars at pick-up windows of fast-food eateries, dial for home-delivered pizza, and feed our kids chicken nuggets. The leading fast-food companies earn billions of dollars in annual profits on these habits.
But who pays for that low-cost food? Fast-food workers pay for those cheap meals with low wages, no benefits, and part-time hours. According to economists, more than half the nation’s fast-food workers rely on the federal safety net to make ends meet. And since government collects those funds from its citizens in taxes, taxpayers end up supporting the companies offering cheap food as they earn billions of dollars in profits. The problem here is not taxes, or even benefits, but the fact that fast-food workers earn insufficient money to support themselves and their families because their employers believe they must continue to offer cheap food.
Each of us has the opportunity to break this cycle by choosing to eat where workers have better treatment. Your food may cost more than those cheap eateries, but think about all the good feelings generated from knowing your food hasn’t come on the backs of others.
Marjorie Casswell
Vancouver
