Above photo: Several protesters were detained by police in Chicago as they gathered outside a McDonald’s in Chatham to demand $15 an hour for all fast food workers. From BlackYouthProject.com
Here’s the latest update in the fast-food workers’ fight for $15 an hour and the right to form a union without retaliation.
LA Hotel Workers Win $15.37 Minimum Wage
The LA City Council voted 12-3 on Wednesday to raise the minimum wage to $15.37 per hour for workers at hotels with at least 150 rooms. The Wall Street Journal described the victory as “the latest in an unfolding national trend,” citing similar wins for $15 per hour in the cities of SeaTac and Seattle in Washington, and the expected passage of a $15 minimum wage ballot measure in San Francisco this November.
LA Mayor Eric Garcetti is expected to formally release his own proposal for a major increase in the minimum wage for all workers next week. Garcetti announced in a Labor Day address that he supports raising the city’s minimum wage to $13.25 per hour by 2017, with annual increases to keep pace with the cost of living that will put it on track to reach $15.
Minimum Wage Catches Second Wind in Red States this Fall
With “hugely popular” proposals to raise the minimum wage appearing on the ballot in four red states with closely-watched races this November, NPR’s Mara Liasson reports that a number of Republican candidates have undergone a “sea change” on the issue, now expressing support for an increase in the minimum wage in an effort to align themselves with the vast majority of voters.
Daniel Salazar connects this year’s groundswell of state and local minimum wage victories to the momentum of the fast-food workers’ movement, writing in McClatchy that efforts to raise the minimum wage have “gained a lot of attention this year,” including, “earlier this month, when fast-food workers across the country went on strike demanding companies pay them a $15-per-hour “livable” wage, more than double the current federal floor of $7.25.”
Low Wages Now Hurting McDonalds Bottom Line
USA Today reports on a new study by NPD Group, a market research firm, which finds that stagnant incomes are cutting into fast-food industry sales revenue and that “restaurants like McDonald’s are losing customers who are feeling the pinch of the tough economy.” Bonnie Riggs, a restaurant industry analyst at NPD, states that, “this is the type of thing that keeps restaurant executives up at night. The middle class is shrinking.”
On the heels of recent news that McDonald’s posted the worst sales decline in more than a decade last August, Rick Munarriz in USA Today cites the fast-food workers’ movement as one reason why “McDonald’s is falling apart,” noting that “a lot of people think it’s not just the food that’s cheap at McDonald’s.”
Civil Rights-Era Activist: Fast-Food Workers’ Civil Disobedience is “Serious Business”
Fast-food worker Christian Medina writes in a Denver Post op-ed about his first-hand experience taking an arrest along with nearly 500 other fast-food workers across the country during a 150-city strike on September 4th. Medina compellingly explains that “our backs are up against the wall, so we’re willing to do whatever it takes” to win $15 per hour and a union.
St. Louis-based writer Sarah Kendzior connects 1960s Civil Rights-era activism to today’s fast-food worker movement, drawing on her experience traveling with fast-food workers from St. Louis who joined strikes on Sept 4th in Memphis and Little Rock. A 70-year-old Memphis resident, who has attended protests in the city for over five decades, including those with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., shared her perspective on the fast-food strikes with Kendzior, stating that “she was impressed: these were ‘serious business’.”