there's still an issue of consistency. if you can get "regular" hours... say, 6am-11am, M-T-W-Th, for example, you can schedule your life around it.

30 years ago, I managed a Burger King, and even then, they had us send people home if it got really slow, or.. call up people and cancel their shift an hour before, because of bad weather, etc. Someone's already arranged childcare or transportation for their shift, then cancelling it same day is just not a way to work.

I would imagine that a lot of places are still like that today.

$15/hr sounds great, but if it's 20 hrs one week, then 7 the next, then 24, then 4... that's still a bit unstable for a lot of folks. For someone who has no dependents, or has a stable partner... it's probably doable.

One of my dream labor reforms would be something like classifying any shifts that aren't scheduled at least two weeks in advance as overtime. It won't guarantee a steady number of hours but it will definitely help smooth things out and allow better planning.

That is essentially the law in Norway - the work schedule need to be posted minimum two weeks in advance - and extra shifts should generally be considered overtime. Unfortunately it's probably one of the regulations that are most frequently broken.

Norwegian link: https://www.arbeidstilsynet.no/regelverk/lover/arbeidsmiljol...

So just to be clear if a company is not paying an employee the money they should be it is called wage theft.

So if Norway were having the same issues with employee shortages you could add the reason that maybe the employees are tired of having the company steal from them.

And maybe that's a factor common to other countries

Will you also commit to buying a Big Mac and Fries between 12:00 and 1:00pm on Tuesday two weeks hence?

Also, I used to manage a McDonalds. Paying a bonus to have people come in on short notice to cover no-shows, sick calls, or unexpected business volume was not uncommon.

That's a nice idea (short-notice bonus). 30 years ago, no one had cell phones, so even trying to get ahold of someone on 'short notice' wasn't really possible. But it would have been a nice gesture to balance out the times we'd send people home early.

Just this week in Pittsburgh, I saw an official corporate poster up in a McDonald's advertising a "competitive starting wage" with an 8.5″x11″ sheet taped to it reading "STARTING RATE UP TO 10$/HR." I doubt they'll have much luck at ≤$10/hour. Sure, it's more than the minimum ($7.25/hour), but the "up to" weasel words don't give me confidence.

"McDonald's" is a bit of a mixed bag, like most of the Fast Food Places. McDonald's owned stores are paying a minimum of $13 with the plan to go to $15 in the next few years, this was announced awhile back

The problem is McDonald's Corporate only owns 5% of McDonald's locations, the rest are franchise locations, thus a "McDonald's" crew member at a non-company store is not working for McDonald's but the Franchisee.. This is where you get the lower wages..

This allows McDonald's to get headlines about offering a "$15 min wage" while 95% of wearing an McDonald's uniform do not work for McDonald's thus do not get this wage

Bad bosses, unstable schedules / hours, not a career. Probably doesn't have "benefits", which everyone should have for a level playing field (so medicare for all, get value for our taxes).

Also, have you seen inflation lately?

That's the old minimum wage. $15 is the upcoming (catching up to inflation) minimum wage. People (especially people who have experience and education!, which is most people!) are really done working for below living wages.