Entry-level McDonald’s jobs will go to self-service kiosks rather than to humans under a $15 minimum wage, a former chief of the fast-food giant has warned.
In a guest article written on the Forbes site, former McDonald’s USA CEO Ed Rensi wrote that instituting a $15 minimum wage would mean “wiping out thousands of entry-level opportunities for people without many other options.”
Arguing that McDonald’s franchisees would not be able to absorb the additional labor costs that would come with a minimum wage of $15, Rensi suggested that the restaurant instead would turn to self-service kiosks to replace some employees. Customers don’t mind the kiosks and they have been successfully implemented in Europe, he said.
Rensi was writing in response to the campaign for a $15 minimum wage that has seen success in recent months. California and New York have passed laws to gradually raise their hourly wage floors to that level, joining several large cities.
The federal minimum wage remains at $7.25 an hour, but Democrats in Congress and seeking the presidency have sought to raise it much higher. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator seeking the Democratic nomination, favors a $15 rate, while rival Hillary Clinton has backed state and local efforts to raise it that high.
Rensi, who led McDonald’s in the 1990s and most recently was the CEO of the BBQ chain Famous Dave’s, is listed on his speaker management page as a consultant to McDonald’s. The company said that he is not currently a consultant to McDonald’s, and that it had no involvement with his op-ed.
