KANSAS APPLEBEE'S WORKER REVOLT: WHAT DID WE LEARN?!?!

Dispensing a wide array of chicken dishes and overpriced appetizers is going to get harder as American economic turmoil worsens. 

And so we reconsider this week's drama surrounding an Applebee's in Kansas. 

The lesson here . . . The hot mess might not be a win for management, organized labor or digital media. Instead, it's a glimpse at continued suffering for the service industry

Moreover . . . Worsening class divisions amid a "cultural shift" have pushed locals to the point where chain restaurant employees & managers & corporate are ready to turn on each other in a heartbeat. 

A few more tidbits worth considering . . .

Of course the Journal-World broke the story . . .

    The restaurant on south Iowa Street was closed for large parts of Tuesday because of high gasoline prices, but perhaps not for the reasons you would think. Multiple employees of the chain quit after seeing an email from a regional manager urging the restaurant to begin hiring employees at lower wages, under the theory that people are becoming more desperate to take a job as fuel prices increase.

    "Everyone has heard that gas prices continue to rise,” read an email that came from the account of Wayne Pankratz, executive director of operations for Applebee’s franchisee Apple Central LLC. "The advantage this has for us is that it will increase application flow and has the potential to lower our average wage. How you ask?

    "Most of our employee base and potential employee base live paycheck to paycheck. Any increase in gas price cuts into their disposable income. As inflation continues to climb and gas prices continue to go up, that means more hours employees will need to work to maintain their current level of living."

The aftermath . . . 

"The workers' revolt started when one of the managers at the restaurant saw the email, and was so enraged, he made copies and distributed them to other employees. By the time the restaurant was set to open on Tuesday, the staff refused to work, and a walkout began."

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

"I Was Stunned And Disgusted" - Kansas Applebee's Forced To Close As Workers Revolt Over Wage-Cut Plans

As American workers and businesses struggle with the fallout from the most vicious bout of inflation in 40 years, workers across the US are struggling as wage growth lags behind inflation. For example, federal jobs data released last month showed that wage growth was disappointingly slow, as the YoY growth rate actually declined from January, coming in at just 5.1% (and missing the Wall Street consensus forecast of 5.8%).