Minimum wage is $7.25 per hour in the state of Wisconsin. That means someone working 40 hours in a week would make a total of $290 before taxes. That works out to be $15,080 for the year. Is that enough to live more than just a hardscrabble, penny-pinching existence to keep the lights on? No. Not really.
But now what about $31,200? Where would that get a person? That is what someone making $15 an hour for 40 hours a week would earn in a year.
Recently, fast – food workers have walked off the job demanding that very rate of pay. Employees from McDonald’s in West Milwaukee staged a demonstration that resulted in the arrest of U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore and more than 20 others calling for a sizable increase in pay.
A person has to wonder if they deserve to be paid that much for a job that requires so little as far as qualifications to even get hired.
The fast-food industry is a common first job for people still in high school to get and not care one way or another if they keep for long. Availability is likely to be considered long before skills when considering applicants.
One could assume that a lot of MATC students have either worked a fast – food job or know someone who does. One could also assume that a lot of MATC students are here to develop skills for themselves that will keep them out of fast – food jobs and hopefully making around $31,200 or more in a job they really care about.
With this school so fully populated with hard workers wanting more of that good ol’ American Dream, what position would  MATC students take on the issue of giving fast – food workers a pay rate commensurate with the amount they’d want after investing a great deal of time and money into their own education?
It appears these six MATC students draw a hard line on earning the right to earn that kind of money.