America is going through a major labour shortage, and one McDonald’s franchise in Illinois is offering up free iPhones to lure potential workers.
A window display offering “free iPhone after 6 months employment & meet employment criteria,” quickly went viral, and didn’t get the type of exposure the restaurant was hoping for, given the low wages offered by the multi-billion-dollar company.
A McDonald’s spokesperson distanced the company from the offer, telling the New York Post, “franchisees around the country are offering various incentives around hiring but this is not a corporate backed initiative.”
McDonald’s announced this month that it is raising hourly wages of its employees by an average of 10 per cent. The company specified this will only be at company-owned locations; the majority of outlets are owned by franchisees, so this wage rise isn’t as substantial as it first appears.
“If you want to look like you’re raising wages to $15 an hour, then you should actually raise wages to $15 an hour, for every McDonald’s worker in this country, minimum,” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said in response to this sleight of hand.
“We’re not buying it. We’re not falling for it.”
