Minimum Wage?

So  I was just looking through FaceBook, and came across a set of two pictures. In the first picture, you see a girl closing a to-go bag of food, presumably from McDonald's. In the next set, you see three EMS personnel moving a stretcher with a person on it towards the ambulance. The caption: "$15 Per Hour Because We're the Same."

I get that fast food workers have evolved into being working parents who can't get another job, regardless of the reason, and depend on their income for the care of their  children. I understand wanting to raise minimum wage in that instance to take care of one's family. However, I don't agree with this. These types of jobs used to be for kids who were in high school, and maybe the first year or two of college. The jobs *should* teach customer service skills, adherence to workplace policies, and provide an entry point into the world of work. These jobs were NEVER designed to be careers. I don't think these types of jobs are "lesser than" or "not as worthy as" other jobs; people sometimes need to eat on the go, and getting their food from places like McDonald's might be the only or easiest option at the moment. Personally, I question the healthiness of food from these places, but that's a whole other issue.

The set of pictures I mentioned above brings up an excellent point. EMS personnel--fire fighters, police officers, EMTs and paramedics, and others--work in dangerous conditions more often than not. Sometimes the danger comes from the environment, such as when a person has fallen off of a cliff and must be rescued. Or the person is standing at an open window, screaming for help as flames from the house fire reach ever closer to his or her location. Other times, the danger comes from people nearby. The drunk parent who is trying to hurt his or her child. The person who is high on whatever drugs he or she took is either trying to hurt herself or throwing rocks, knives, tomatoes--or shooting bullets--at the EMTs and paramedics who are trying to get to the injured person. There are many other scenarios that make a situation dangerous. Yet, the EMS personnel go in and do their best to help the people involved anyway. Considering all this, why is it fair for someone who works inside, preparing food according to specific instructions, to be paid the same as these people, who not only work in less-controlled atmospheres, but also have had to obtain significantly more education and training?

The issues with such a high minimum wage transcend many different levels; the type/race of the people involved in working at fast food places is only one of those levels. Whether or not you are legally allowed to work in the US is another level. I am not commenting on these or any of the myriad other levels involved in the "raise the minimum wage" argument. I am saying that I do not believe it is appropriate for fast food jobs to be given the same wages as the career positions that EMS personnel obtain education and experience to get into. Our EMS personnel are frequently abused and unappreciated. To many people, they are simply another uniform, and to some of those people, the uniform itself represents what they don't like. This is something we need to change, although it is another issue for another time. When I first got certified as an EMT, the starting wage was $8 per hour. Fire fighters, police officers, and paramedics made more, but they had more education, experience, and more and higher-level training. With that said, EMS is not a field that people get into for the money. In most cases, it is because they are interested in the field, they have a genuine desire to help others, or some other reason known only to themselves. Yes, some are "bad apples." Those pop up in any and every type of job, including food service. Again, a whole other issue for another time. The wage provided to those working in food service needs to reflect their job. If the workers want more money, they should find a better paying job, doing something else. Yes, this can be difficult, especially with little or no education. I don't claim to have all the answers here. But I don't think it is fair to pay someone who slaps a burger onto the bun, with or without cheese, the same amount as someone who has provided medical assistance to a man with severe bleeding while dodging a hail of bullets.