how about mcunion?

HOW ABOUT MC UNION?

Mc Donald’s is the most widespread fast food restaurant in the world. The fries, burger
and coke are sometimes the best and most practical meal of our happy times. Our mother
sometimes takes a break from cooking and gets us Mc Donald’s for the lunch or dinner. Mc
Donald’s food sounds fan , but how about the company by itself? Is it a company that is fair to
its workers? What do you think that is going on in the backside of the McDonald’s restaurants?
Does the food come to your home is made in a good work environment by happy people? Do
you think that workers who prepare our burger get the money they deserve? Are the workers
informed and trained about the whole process of the food? Are the workers unionized and can
save their rights? There is a dark side of Mc Donald’s company’s that nobody but only its
workers know about.

As a matter of fact Mc Donald’s workers aren’t unionized. According to Ron Marcoux ,
executive vice-president of Mc Donald’s restaurant of Canada Ltd., as far as he knows none of
the company’s Canadian restaurants are unionized, because Mc Donald’s hires immigrants and
teenagers who are poor, have no talent ,no any knowledge to do another job and don’t speak
English well. They are afraid to get fired all the time because of the lack of experience and
knowledge they have , so they do whatever employers say. According to The Toronto Sun News
of April 2002, there is a big turnover at McDonald’s. So, some people just can’t stand the system
there and leave the job or get fired. A sociologist Ester Reiter says that “obedience” is the most
valued aspect of a personality in fast food restaurants (schlosser,75). So, these immigrants and
teenagers , because of their hard life conditions, are obedient to their employer and don’t have
the chance to say “no!.” So, these workers are subject to arbitrariness and unfairness on the job
all the time. In this case , Mc Donald workers should definitely unionize in order to save their
rights ,and have a better work environment.

Mc Donald’s take some serious steps not to have their workers unionized. Mc Donald’s
doesn’t care about the pain or bad consequences that the work system causes to its workers. The
only thing Mc Donald cares that money, and more businesses. That is why the food that comes to
your home is mass produced food in assembly line. That means that the food in Mc Donald’s fast
food restaurant is processed by a large groups of people and you can be never sure that who
prepared your food .So, that brings up more than one questions in your mind; are those people
clean? Why is my food prepared by so many people that each one do a small part of the work ?
Can’t one person do everything from the beginning to the end and be responsible from
everything? This is not a car company or any other industrial factory that produces technological
stuffs, this is my food that I am buying for dinner to eat with my children. How will I be sure that
my burger is made of clean stuffs, I can’t go ask all the people who are working there because
Mc Donald’s is a huge company. So, it is better to do my own food or buy it from the people that
I know. As that can effect my health, it definitely effects the workers’ work conditions too. First
of all, the workers earn less money because of the small part of job they do, also they can’t be
sure about the safety and cleanness of the food they are preparing because they are only allowed
to do one simple thing every single day and don’t allowed to ask questions or get information
about other processes of the food. So, actually workers have no idea what is going on before
their turn comes and passes. This mass produced in assembly line system makes Mc Donald’s
company earn a lot of money, but the workers’ money decreases or doesn’t increase. The
workers feel insecure at work because of small and simple work that they do in this system
without allowed to be trained to do the whole job. So, if the employer wants to fire them, he can
fire them and replace them easily. In this case, workers become weak because they are not
unionized, and do whatever the employer says. Mc Donald’s deliberately controls and try to keep
unions out of its restaurants (Scholesser 76). If Mc Donald’s let its workers to be unionized then
the company can’t treat the workers arbitrarily. That is why Mc Donald’s hires mostly
immigrants or teenagers. Teenagers are too young and the immigrants can’t speak English, so
they can’t unionize because they don’t even know their rights yet. According to Scholesser if
somebody wants to get fired mentioning about the word “Mc union” which stands for unionizing
Mc Donald’s restaurants, is enough for it; “did somebody say Mc Union? Not if they want to
keep their Mcjob”(77). So, when the workers of Mc Donald’s start seeking their rights, they get
fired immediately. If Mc Donald’s continues using mass produced system in assembly line for its
benefits to make more money, and continues to avoid the union actions of its workers in its
restaurants by hiring inexperienced teenagers and immigrants, one day Mc Donald’s name will
be vanished in the universe sooner than we think .

In conclusion, any fast food restaurant has to be unionized in order to keep their rights and
have a better work condition. Also, if the workers can keep their rights and the turnover rates
decreases we will have a better food, at least by the same people who work there for along time
with more knowledge of work. We may not change the mass –produced system in assembly line
right away, but if we don’t buy big food chains’ food, we may slowly change their system. Don’t
let companies to use your money against you and do not support mass produced food system by
keep buying their products.


WORK CITED

Cp. "McUnion Ordered;Burger Workers Sign First Contract." The Toronto Sun [Toronto] 18 Apr. 2002, News sec.: 53. Lexisnexis. Web. 20 Apr. 2010. .


Cp. "McDonald's Staff Puts in Order for 'mcunion'at Alberta Outlet." The Toronto Star [Toronto] 6 Oct. 1985, News sec.: A11. Lexisnexis. Web. 20 Apr. 2010. .


Schlosser, Eric. "Behind the Counter." Fast Food Nation: the Dark Side of the All-American Meal. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. 59-87. Print.

second 5 entries

Fontaine, Kevin R., David T. Redden, Chenxi Wang, Andrew O. Westfall, and David B. Allison. "Years of Life Lost Due to Obesity." The American Medical Association 289.2 (2003). Jama. Web. 20 Apr. 2010. .

That article from JAMA is going to help me to explain to you that obesity can go as serious as killing people, so you may live shorter than you expected. Also, it will help me to explain to you the BMI’s part in obesity.


Wee, Christina C. "A 52 Year Old Woman with Obesity." The American Medical Association 302.10 (2009). Jama. Web. 20 Apr. 2010. .

Another article from JAMA is about a woman who faces obesity. That article will explain us a 52 years old woman and her body’s story in obesity. In order to learn how bad obesity can make us feel and unhealthy , we will look at that lady’s situation individually. Then, maybe you can have an empathy with her.




Hu, Frank B., Tricia Y. Li, and Graham A. Colditz. "Television Watching and Other Sedentary Behaviors in Relation to Risk of Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Women." The American Medical Association 289.14 (2003). Jama. Web. 20 Apr. 2010. .

Another article from JAMA is about a connection between sedentary life style and obesity. That article will help me to explain to you that not just unhealthy food but also , sitting down all the time and not doing exercises can increase the risk of obesity.


Cleave, Jeanne Van, and Steven L. Gortmaker. "Dynamics of Obesity and Chronic Health Conditions among Children and Youth." The American Medical Association 303.7 (2010). Jama. Web. 20 Apr. 2010. .

Another article from JAMA will explain us the chronic conditions of obesity among children and youth; how the chronic conditions increase and what problems they cause for children.


Pollan, Michael. In Defense of Food: an Eater's Manifesto. New York: Penguin, 2008. Print.

The book by Michael Pollan,is going to help me to explain to you how healthy are the products we eat ,what we should eat , and how much .That book will give us great information about the food we have and the changes that is made to it.

first five entries

The area I am working on ; The Food System and Disease.
The topic ; Fast food and Diabetes-related diseases.
The theme; fast food industry caused serious health problems in the U.S.; Americans became the fattest nation in the earth and diabetes –related diseases incredibly increased.


Spurlock, Morgan. "2." Don't Eat This Book: Fast Food and the Supersizing of America. New York: Berkley, 2005. 9-25. Print.


The book by Morgan Spurlock will help me to explain you the fast food system and obesity in the U.S. The book offers a lot of information about the statistics of obesity in the U.S. and gives detailed information of diabetes-related diseases in kids and adults. After reading what he says about the dark side of eating fast food , you will see yourself walking away from any fast food restaurant around you and turning back to your grandmother’s recipes.

Pettus, Emily Wagster. "Fattest State's Lawmakers Shed Pounds,fried Stuff." The Associated Press Domestic News (O3/24//2010). Lexisnexis. Web. 24 Mar. 2010. .

The article ,which is from the recently news , will be a recent proof to explain to you that many people are overweight in the U.S. and the reason is fast food. Even the people, who are educated law makers, are falling the trap of fast food system and showing us that Americans do really eat unhealthy food no matter who and how educated they are.


Kingsnorth, Paul. "How the English Malady Became the World's;stuffed and Starved by Raj Patel Portello." Art& Book Review (2007). Lexisnexis. Web. 17 Apr. 2010. .

In the book review that I have found from lexis nexus written by Mr.Paul Kingsnorth for the book of Raj Patel’s; it is emphasized that the main problem of the food system and diseases come from the historical roots of the system. Also, the question of why the system goes so badly from farmers to shoppers is the main concern in the book. This review made me ask more questions about how the food system have started and is it really a surprising thing that it has come to a point that it is becoming seriously dangerous.

Aman, Fouzia. "Social Change." Business Recorder (2008). Lexisnexis. Web. 17 Apr. 2010. .

This article by Fouzia Aman gives an explanation of mass culture and how it is transmitted to society. The article is important for my research because it will help me to explain to you that how mass culture and Mc Donalds are connected to each other. After reading my notes related to the problem,you will be more aware of which culture you are in and fast foods’ position in it.
Smulyan, Susan. "Escaping Popular Culture." Introduction. Popular Ideologies: Mass Culture at Mid-century. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 2007. 1-15. Print.


Sulyan, Susan."Escaping Popular Culture." Introduction.Popular Ideologies: Mass Culture at Mid-century. Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania,2007.1-15.print

The book by Susan Smulyan explains popular (mass) culture’s definition and the impacts of it on society more deeply. That will help me to discuss with you how Mc Donald’s and other fast food restaurants are the big symbol of pop (mass) culture. As individuals are we lost in mass culture or controlling it, do you it Mc Donald’s because it is your own decision or the society’s?

High Fructuse Corn Syrup = Sugar

We love sugar. We love everything that tastes sweet and tasty. So, what happens if the

sugar becomes so cheap; we buy it a lot and then we get fat. That is simple, no any scientific

proof is needed to get that conclusion. Therefore, from generations and generations ago, since

1820s our problem has started with consuming corn and corn whiskey a lot. Then that lead us ,in

1980s, consuming high fructose corn syrup very largely . Unfortunately; we still can’t stop

overproduction of corn to avoid our nation from getting overweight. Instead ,our problem got

bigger ; now we have a problem not directly with corn , but with fructose corn syrup (sugar)

putting in almost every products that we buy; for example ; sodas, cereal, ketchup,

concentrated juices, energy drinks… etc. So, just because we love and buy sweet stuff (fructose

corn syrup) a lot, manufactories put it almost in every cheap product to make us buy it more

and more . That became so profitable for them ,but harmful for us. We have started to die from

obesity. Our children, according to Journal of the American Medical Association; if they were

born in 2000,they have a chance of one in three to get developing diabetes .When they get the

obesity or any disease related to it that will decrease the life expectancy of our children so that,

they live less than their parents.(Pollan,102). That is the most horrifying thing I have ever

heard. I can’t imagine my father watching me dying before him. Eating shouldn’t be that

dangerous and manufactories should not play with our lives. Sugar should stay only as a sweet

tasty in our mouth, not as a poison. So, we all should watch what and how much we are eating.



WORK CITED

Pollan, Michael. "Unit 3." 2010. The Ethics of Food. 102. Print.

Soda Tax

SODA TAX

People who are addicted to something, no matter how expensive it gets , how unhealthy it is or
how harmful it is , they will find it and buy it anyway. Because it becomes that something they can’t live
without. In such a case ,it is a better way to educate and therapy people to get them less addicted time
by time than keep blaming the product because of its unhealthiness. The best way of changing a bad
thing to a better thing is seeking the people’s characteristics deeply. Then you really can change a thing;
a manner, a habit and a way of living.

Millions are people drinking soda everyday. The matter is how much and how often they drink.If
you drink soda once in a month it is not going to threaten your health ,but if you are drinking it almost
everyday, then this can be a problem. According to the Jane Brody’s article in New York Times she states
that “ Harvard study that followed 51.000 women for four years ,those who increased their sugary soda
consumption from a maximum of once a week to at least one drink a day gained the most weight. As a
consequence, they also faced almost double the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes”. So, that evidence
shows us the truth of 51.000 women’ sad story of soda consumption. Do you want to be one of those
women? Then do not drink soda too much, and control yourself ,if you can’t do that get help.

My personal opinion about raising soda taxes is similar to the article published in advertising
age and called “ soda taxes are nothing more than a money grab”. I personally think that, raising the
taxes of soda is a trap of money. That will not really help the people who are consuming it already, extra
couples of dollars will not change them, but it will make the NY state richer. As the article from
advertising age mentions that “ the fact of the matter is, there is little evidence that such taxes change
consumer behavior “ I also say that there is obviously something else is going on behind these
thoughtful looking behavior. If the people who are really concerned about our health want to help us,
then I ask them for more radical solutions which is like educating people and mentioning more about
healthy stuffs than keep talking nonstop on unhealthy stuffs like we don’t know it.

There are many vitamin waters , natural and relaxing teas, homemade juices and many more stuffs
that are really healthy. I actually never heard of any TV program, advertisement or a talk that about
these healthy stuffs. People, interestingly, do not talk about good things. Whatever is bad takes more
attention and spreads faster. Good things are hidden like an important secret. We should bring them up
in our daily lives and start talking about how they are increasing our health conditions. For example , a
glass of fresh orange juice and some honey every morning makes me feel so fresh and healthy that I
totally get ready to the day no matter what the day may bring.

I would like to conclude that if you are a person who is addicted to soda , ask yourself why are
you so? Take your life and health more seriously .There is no joke with even a small thing that you are
doing it wrong. You don’t want to be one of the 51.000 women, or don’t want be the person who let
others use your deficit of drinking too much soda and let them make more money from that while you
are getting more miserable .