It is twelve o’clock on a Friday afternoon, and the McDonald’s restaurant in the Wilmington Plaza is booming as usual. The middle school has an early release, and the convenient location of the restaurant means kids are flocking there by the dozens. These kids are just a few of the 68 million people that McDonald’s serves around the world on a daily basis. Little do these kids know that the people serving them this detrimental junk food are barely scraping by on pay that is not enough: the CEO makes what an employee earns in two and a half weeks, in one hour! On top of that, the poor children are eating one of the primary causes of diabetes and other diseases. The perpetrator of these injustices, McDonald’s, needs to be seriously reformed because of its minimal employee pay, unsafe workplace conditions, and unhealthy food.

McDonald’s employs a whopping 760,000 people in the US alone. The people who rely on this job as a primary source of income must struggle everyday in destitution. A recent study shows that McDonald’s tops the list of fast food companies whose workers rely on government programs. The average employee makes $7.63 an hour. Assuming this is for a family of four, the estimated income is just $90 shy of the federal poverty guidelines. To rub salt on the wound, McDonald’s gives ridiculous financial and life tips to their workers, such as telling them that complaining less lowers stress levels. The company also claims that its employees should take two vacations a year, as if the workers could afford to take time off. Many people look at McDonald’s employees and see a high school dropout, or a lazy good-for-nothing that has no ambition. However, almost half have high school diplomas and about 30% have college experience. Additionally, more than a quarter of fast food workers are raising children, further strengthening the argument for better wages. These people are victims of the vicious job market, and McDonald’s has capitalized on their misfortune, getting cheap labor out of them. The best solution for these poor workers would be to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, which is a huge improvement. They would be motivated to work harder due to their livable pay, thus increasing profits for McDonald’s. If the company’s executives were not so ridden with greed and insensitivity, they would have done this long ago.

 Almost as bad as their awful pay, McDonald’s workers and customers must deal with lousy, even dangerous workplace conditions. The restaurants are overcrowded and unsanitary. The tables are a breeding ground for germs and filth, but are only thoroughly cleaned at the end of the day. Many customers will sit at one table throughout the course of a day, and all the germs will accumulate so the last customer of the day will be at the highest risk. The floors, especially in the kitchens, are greasy and wet which is one of the largest causes of workplace injury. But the highest risk for employees comes in the form of one of the most painful injuries: the burn. Countless employees have gotten badly burned because of unsafe grills and lack of protective gear. Many employees testified that the pressure to work faster led to their burn, much like the "speeding up" that Packingtown, Chicago meatpacking workers had to endure in 1906. To make matters even worse, many McDonald’s restaurants have been found to have empty or even nonexistent first-aid kits. Once an employee gets burned, one would think the manager would immediately call emergency services, but almost all the workers stated that they were told to treat their burn by applying condiments! This is an inexcusable violation of workers' rights and McDonald's should be heavily fined for it. As of right now, 310 unfair labor practice charges against McDonald’s have been filed, but McDonald’s has tried to skirt them by saying that since most restaurants are franchised, the company is not responsible. An effective solution would be to always make sure every restaurant has a full first-aid kit, workers in the kitchen have proper protective gear, and managers know when to call for help. Some of these changes would cost a little bit of money, but as it has proven before, McDonald’s cares more about money than its employees’ well being.

On top of having little respect for their workers, McDonald’s harms its customers by serving them unhealthy, disease-promoting food. It is no secret that food from McDonald’s is extremely bad for one’s health, and leads to many medical complications. The average meal, meaning a burger, fries, and soda, contains about 1,000-1,500 calories, which is more than half of the daily recommended calories in one meal. The sodium is off the charts, as one would get two or three days worth of sodium in that meal, which is one of the big links between McDonald’s and heart disease. To burn off the unhealthy calories, it is necessary to run seven miles. Even if one ran seven miles every time after eating McDonald’s, the excessive salt and sugar would eventually catch up to that person and give him or her all sorts of diseases and conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure. To exacerbate the situation, McDonald’s advertising specifically targets young children with the toys that come in Happy Meals. This starts the kids off on a lifetime of filling their bodies with junk. A man named Morgan Spurlock did an experiment where he ate only McDonald’s food for 30 days. Over that time, he gained 25 pounds, his cholesterol spiked, he had mood swings and depression, and he suffered from heart palpitations. Spurlock reported that his depression was only relieved when he ate McDonald’s, a fact that suggested he had become addicted! Some people have bought McDonald’s food and kept it for years. It stays exactly the same, making people wonder what kind of preservatives have been put in it. Clearly, McDonald’s is not shedding light on the matter, as it does not want to shoot itself in the leg. Many people know McDonald’s is not good for their health, but most do not know the extent of how bad it is.

McDonald’s is no doubt one of the biggest and most well known restaurants in the world. It feeds billions of people a year, and employs thousands more. However, all this success does not change the fact that it is a corrupt business that thrives off of the toil and ignorant consumption of others. The company simply must pay its workers more than the nominal fee of about $60 a day. It has to provide a better working environment, as many workers are getting seriously injured on the job. Lastly, it is imperative that McDonald’s starts serving healthier food without all the added chemicals. If the company keeps on serving harmful food to the public, it will get shut down. This chain needs to undergo serious change, and needs to do it fast.