Above: Fight for $15 protest in Memphis, TN on the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the famous Sanitation Strike, which Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. participated in.
Workers Protest For $15 An Hour And A Union
Walk Off Work On 50th Anniversary of Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike
Fight for $15 held protests calling for a $15 per hour minimum wage and a union. Thousands of workers walked off their jobs in two dozen cities.
The protests, which were joined by the Poor People’s Campaign, are part of a multi-year effort by fast food and other low wage workers for a $15 an hour minimum wage. The protests today, February 12, are being held on the 50th anniversary of the day when the famous Memphis sanitation worker’s strike began. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. participated in that strike, which demanded the safety of workers, a living wage and recognition of their union. King was organizing the Poor People’s Campaign at the time of the strike and when he was assassinated in Memphis.
According to the compensation research company PayScale, fast food workers make an average of $8.28 per hour. The National Low Income Housing Coalition reports that the current minimum wage of $7.25 per hour leaves workers unable to afford a two-bedroom rental apartment in any U.S. state.
The organizers of today’s protests are planning six weeks of “direct action and nonviolent civil disobedience” starting on Mother’s Day.
Below are tweets from today’s protests.
From the mouths of babes. #MLK50 #FightFor15 pic.twitter.com/IBqfrKRoah
— MLK50 Memphis (@MLK50Memphis) February 12, 2018
Today, the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike, the @fightfor15 and the Poor People’s Campaign are seeking to recreate one of the strikers’ historic marches. https://t.co/W3EEVJWOU2
— Steven Greenhouse (@greenhousenyt) February 12, 2018
I’ve gotten really adept at walking backwards in the last year. #MLK50 #FightFor15 pic.twitter.com/RzixmHcv2x
— Micaela Watts (@megawatts2000) February 12, 2018
Thousands walk off their jobs in two-dozen cities, demanding $15 minimum wage and union rights. https://t.co/5GUx72zCtG
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) February 12, 2018
Hundreds are marching in Downtown Memphis for equality. Members of #BlackLivesMatters and #FightFor15 have joined together. @3onyourside pic.twitter.com/FXf62z3ufC
— Ian Ripple (@Ripple1026) February 12, 2018
Breaking: Thousands of workers, community from all across the south march historical route from Clayborne Temple to Memphis City Hall, to remember and continue the fight the sanitation workers and #PoorPeoplesCampaign started in 1968 #fightfor15 pic.twitter.com/DELxfsLR4T
— Fight For 15 (@fightfor15) February 12, 2018
Protestan en Houston, Texas para conseguir un salario mínimo de $15 para los trabajadores de restaurantes de comida rápida. @SEIUTX @fightfor15 @MiFamiliaVotaTX pic.twitter.com/nH40DMSTWG
— Sylvia Obén (@sylvia_oben) February 12, 2018
In Missouri, white women make 77 cents, African American women make 68 cents, and Latina women make 61 cents to every dollar a white man makes. We still have a long way to go until we reach pay parity. #FightFor15
— NARAL Missouri (@NARALMissouri) February 12, 2018
The #FightFor15 March is beginning! @Show_Me15 pic.twitter.com/V0yoa7kgE7
— NARAL Missouri (@NARALMissouri) February 12, 2018
Workers Continue the fight Against poverty,racism, Ecological Devastation, and the war Economy #FightFor15 #SanJose pic.twitter.com/luHD5Dsxjc
— Fight For 15 Nor Cal (@NorCalFF15) February 12, 2018
. @pewresearch: About 20.6 million people (or 30% of all hourly, non-self-employed workers 18 and older) are “near-minimum-wage” workers. Photo by @andreamorales. @fightfor15 @AFSCME @SEIU @BRepairers pic.twitter.com/g8sj5aWAel
— MLK50 Memphis (@MLK50Memphis) February 12, 2018
MLK told the sanitation workers the night before he was shot dead: “We’ve got to give ourselves to this struggle until the end.” That’s exactly what we are marching today and planning on doing. #fightfor15 #PoorPeoplesCampaign pic.twitter.com/LB8KOJracU
— Fight For 15 (@fightfor15) February 12, 2018
A group of workers came United to demand social justice at MacDonald#FightFor15 #SanJose pic.twitter.com/BYrozp8KA4
— Fight For 15 Nor Cal (@NorCalFF15) February 12, 2018
“I am a human.” We will not stop fighting inequality. Our voices matter. Our future matters. That is why we are standing together! #FightFor15 #Union pic.twitter.com/I0xOVv9Uww
— Fight For 15 Cleveland (@WorkersRising) February 12, 2018
Our #CollegeForAllCA petition collection team turned out in solidarity with striking @fightfor15 fast-food workers and #HousingForAll activists. Working across our intersecting movements, we can fight back against the forces of inequality! Join us: https://t.co/Vt16zzghvK pic.twitter.com/cIF8GUhoQK
— College For All CA? (@collegeforallca) February 12, 2018
America. Needs. Unions. #FightFor15 pic.twitter.com/6XyzyIsly8
— Fight for $15 LA (@Fightfor15LA) February 12, 2018
98th and International #Oakland #McDonalds shut down for a short time by “Fight for 15” protests for higher wage and union jobs. @KCBSNews pic.twitter.com/D2D1AkTg8n
— Margie Shafer (@newsmarg) February 12, 2018
“Developers are kicking us oit ofnour communities. I’m a 15 year resident and they dont have a right to push us out!” Steven Baldwin, @LATenantsUnion #FightFor15 #repealcostahawkins pic.twitter.com/wWC9y3cY9J
— Fight for $15 LA (@Fightfor15LA) February 12, 2018
We can’t wait another 50 years for our demands to be met #FightFor15 pic.twitter.com/7EyRBpIy2k
— Fight for $15 LA (@Fightfor15LA) February 12, 2018
TODAY we’re in Sacramento standing in solidarity with fast food strikers in the south as they march the same march Memphis sanitation strikers took in 1968. Union rights are civil rights! #FightFor15 pic.twitter.com/vzP98Ut28Y
— Fight For 15 Nor Cal (@NorCalFF15) February 12, 2018
March moving down South Main now toward #Memphis City Hall #Fightfor15 pic.twitter.com/Wln4H4s6Jp
— Chris Luther (@cluther_wmc5) February 12, 2018
The inspiration you need today: the youth leading march for justice and dignity! #fightfor15 #PoorPeoplesCampaign pic.twitter.com/1kwf1EQTrt
— Fight For 15 (@fightfor15) February 12, 2018