Fight For 15: Fast-food workers to launch intensified protests across U.S

[aGameOfThrones]

Fast-food workers to launch intensified protests across U.S.


Credit: Reuters/Jim Young
Demonstrators chant in the driveway during a protest at the McDonald's headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois, May 21, 2014.

Credit: Reuters/Jim Young
(Reuters) - McDonald's line cooks, Burger King cashiers and other fast-food restaurant workers across the U.S. plan to walk off the job on Thursday in an ongoing battle with their employers to gain a $15 hourly wage, organizers said on Monday.

The protests, announced on Twitter by organizer Fight For 15, come as cities across the nation propose minimum wage increases while Democrats seek to raise the federal minimum wage ahead of this year's mid-term congressional elections.

Fast food workers have launched a series of protests over the last nearly two years to bring awareness to their demands, which include the right to unionize without retaliation.

In one of the last major actions, restaurant workers launched rallies in 150 cities, including Boston, Chicago, New York and Miami in May.

This time, organizers are staging walkouts in more than 100 cities and plan to use nonviolent civil disobedience tactics such as sit-ins, The New York Times reported.

Unlike the protest in May, thousands of home care workers are expected to join in solidarity, the Times reported.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/...0GX07320140902

Fast-food workers plan nationwide protest Thursday


Nancy Salgado, a cashier at a Chicago McDonald's, plans to strike this Thursday. Union organizers say workers are prepared to be arrested if need be.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)



Union organizers say workers will walk off their jobs Thursday in 150 cities nationwide. Restaurants that they say will be affected include McDonald's (MCD), Burger King (BKW) , Wendy's and KFC, which is owned by Yum Brands (YUM).

The action would be the latest in a two-year effort to get employers to pay them a minimum wage of $15 an hour and allow them to form unions without retaliation.

Nancy Salgado, a 27 year old single mother of a 3 year old boy and an 8 year old girl, plans to strike.

Salgado works at a McDonald's in the Logan Square area of Chicago earning $8.25 an hour, or about $600 a month take home pay.

After splitting rent and utilities with 3 roommates, and paying for child care, she's left with a little over $100 a month for food and everything else.

"If I have a dollar at the end of the month it's a miracle," Salgado said.

Union organizers say the movement has elevated the debate about inequality in the U.S. and helped raise the minimum wage in some states, including Connecticut and New Jersey.

Public policy group Demos says CEO compensation in the industry since 2000 quadrupled to $24 million, while the average fast-food worker's wage only increased 0.3%. Fast-food CEOs make 1,000 times more than the average worker in the industry, according to Demos.

U.S. census data show that the face of the fast-food worker has changed dramatically over the years. Workers over the age of 20 now make up 70% of the workforce and nearly 40% have children. A third of them have spent some time in college.

Salgado, who didn't finish high school, said she'll do whatever she has to to win the fight for a $15 minimum wage and a union.

"My 8 year old daughter tells me 'Everything is OK mommy,' and I tell her, 'yes,'" said Salgado. "But when she goes to sleep I know it's not OK."


http://money.cnn.com/2014/09/01/news...worker-strike/

[bunklocoempire]

[RonPaulIsGreat]

Look for the burger flipper robot stock to skyrocket!

[CaptUSA]

[green73]

The quotes in title are mine, not WaPo's.

NEW YORK — McDonald’s, Wendy’s and other fast-food restaurants are expected to be targeted with acts of civil disobedience that could lead to arrests Thursday as labor organizers escalate their campaign to unionize the industry’s workers.

Kendall Fells, an organizing director for Fast Food Forward, said in an interview that workers in a couple of dozen cities were trained to peacefully engage in civil disobedience ahead of this week’s planned protests.

Fells declined to say what exactly is in store for the protests in around 150 U.S. cities. But workers involved in the movement recently cited sit-ins as an example of strategies they could use to intensify their push for higher pay and unionization. Past protests have targeted a couple of restaurants in each city.

The “Fight for $15” campaign is being backed by the Service Employees International Union and has gained national attention at a time when growing income disparities have become a hot political issue.

President Obama and others have said raising wages for those at the bottom of the economic ladder could help strengthen the middle class.

cont.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/busine...d02_story.html

[DamianTV]

Revolution comes in roughly three stages.

Stage 1: The spread of information. This is where the identification of specific problems occurs. It is, in essence, what this entire forum is about. Trying to identify the root problems and make meaningful peaceful change.

Stage 2: Public Disobedience. Once problems become severe enough, people start to disobey. They recognize the problem is the laws themselves are designed to enslave them, not to free them. This is starting to happen in this example, in places like Ferguson, Bundy Ranch in Nevada, the Occupy Movement, etc.

Stage 3: Violent Revolution. This is a worst case scenario. Unfortunately, it is already happening in many places around the world right at this very moment. It has been going on in Syria for several years, and many other places that the US has gotten involved with. It needs to be avoided at all costs as that is where the consequences result in human lives. If people were unwilling to participate in either of the first two stages, this stage is very likely to fail. Those who are unaware of why they are fighting will not be able to achieve anything by fighting.

The Level of Tyranny in this country is reaching critical mass. Teachers are arrested for writing books about school shootings, people are shot by cops practically on a daily basis with no measure of recourse, parents are criminalized over vaccines and disobedience to the Medical Industrial Complex, people are demonized for upholding the values of a free society with a limited government. People are going to disobey. And I fear this is exactly what the powers that be are trying to provoke. They want violence because it is the one thing they are exceedingly good at. They sure as $#@! dont want to solve the problems because that leaves more for those at the bottom and undermines the authority of the very tippy top. Our laws have been weaponized against the people they are supposed to protect. And provoking violence to enact a permanent state of Martial Law is the only way they know how to keep their power.

We are transitioning from Brave New World where citizens are distracted with drugs and entertainment and waking up to 1984 where Big Brother literally has a gun pointed at your head every second of every day. If we do not make meaningful change soon, very few of us truly realize just how screwed we really are.

[Ronin Truth]

They may want to round up some smarter folks to lead it.

[tod evans]

If we do not make meaningful change soon, very few of us truly realize just how screwed we really are.

Meaningful change won't be brought around with signs and chants anymore than through a Diebold machine.....

[juleswin]

They may want to round up some smarter folks to lead it.

You make a grave mistake by underestimating your opponent. They have smart people behind them, but they put up the "common man" type to give the illusion that they came up with the idea instead of some political operative in Washington whose goal is just to rally more democrats to the polls come voting time.

No fast food worker in their right mind is insane enough to ask for $15/hr for what he/she does. This kind of lunacy comes straight from Washington.n

[Ronin Truth]

You make a grave mistake by underestimating your opponent. They have smart people behind them, but they put up the "common man" type to give the illusion that they came up with the idea instead of some political operative in Washington whose goal is just to rally more democrats to the polls come voting time.

No fast food worker in their right mind is insane enough to ask for $15/hr for what he/she does. This kind of lunacy comes straight from Washington.n

Good point!

[Acala]

This is going to send the price of grass-fed beef and fresh vegetables through the roof! Oh wait . . .

[DamianTV]

Meaningful change won't be brought around with signs and chants anymore than through a Diebold machine.....

Exactly why Stage 2 is now in effect. The Civil Disobedience is mostly localized right now, but will soon become widespread and wont be limited to specific incidents either.

[hardrightedge]

Meet Pepper...

[kylejack]

Kudos to these workers for engaging in free speech and freedom of association.

[Acala]

Kudos to these workers for engaging in free speech and freedom of association.

Too bad they don't realize that doubling their wages will mean that many of them will be out of work.

[The Free Hornet]

No fast food worker in their right mind is insane enough to ask for $15/hr for what he/she does. This kind of lunacy comes straight from Washington.n

If the average is worth $8, I suspect many shift supers, line leaders, and the better cashiers can easily be worth $15. However, they are dragged down by the $4 workers getting paid twice as much. I have no evidence for that aside from being in lots of situations where adding more dumbfucks doesn't help but some smart leadership does. And a cashier can lead too by not wasting time on the regulars (whose orders she knows) and helping the guy with the 'uhhhmmms' by telling him about the special sandwich du jour (plus they know how to upsell and - also important - how not to upsell).

[mad cow]

I remember pulling up to a Taco Bell take out window many years ago on a busy night.
You can look through the window right into the kitchen and the dude there was turning out and wrapping tacos and burritos quicker than I can type about it,quicker than I could possibly do it after working there for a few years.

He was probably getting the same wage as the girl at the window who rang up my order on a cash register with pictures of food on the keys because of minimum wage laws.

[tsai3904]

LA City Councilman wants to raise minimum wage so poor can buy Starbucks coffee


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-ozgCh6Ghs

[Jackie Moon]

Kudos to these workers for engaging in free speech and freedom of association.

I agree. There's nothing wrong with employees asking for higher wages. Nothing wrong with organizing, or striking.

The problem comes when they want to get the government involved and use force.

Nancy Salgado, a 27 year old single mother of a 3 year old boy and an 8 year old girl, plans to strike.

Salgado works at a McDonald's in the Logan Square area of Chicago earning $8.25 an hour, or about $600 a month take home pay.

The right way for her to make more than $8.25 an hour is to become so valuable to her employer that he decides it's better to pay her more to stay than to let her leave and replace her with someone new.

[John F Kennedy III]

I work at McDonalds. But I know math. You won't see me pushing for $15/hr. I'd be lucky to get enough hours to still get the same paycheck.

[John F Kennedy III]

They love to mention how much the CEOs make compared to us. For better or worse it's the top level people making the big money decisions.

Listen up statists, flipping burgers don't equal $9,000/hr.

[kylejack]

Organizing a union and striking are legitimate free market actions. McDonald's employees in some countries like Denmark are making $21 an hour, so don't tell me they can't still turn a profit. If you don't want to strike that's up to you, but why criticize others for putting pressure on the bosses for more money? No skin off your nose. Let them do their thing.

[kylejack]

The right way for her to make more than $8.25 an hour is to become so valuable to her employer that he decides it's better to pay her more to stay than to let her leave and replace her with someone new.

Sometimes employers don't pay their employees a fair market rate because they want to save money. Strikes help expose these cases. The employer can then either find others willing to do the work for the same price or pay the existing workers more. Nothing wrong with that.

[Acala]

Sometimes employers don't pay their employees a fair market rate because they want to save money. .

False. Sellers of labor (the workers) and buyers of labor (the employer) arrive at a wage rate through a market process. The employer will try to pay as little as possible to get the labor needed to do the job, but if an employer tries to buy labor at below the market rate, nobody will sell - nobody will take the job.

Strikes are an attempt to artificially restrict the supply of labor to boost prices. As long as there is no violence, destruction of property, or interference with people's movement, then I have no complaint. I also have no complaint if the employer fires them all and replaces them from the long line of people willing to work for the wages being offered.

[Acala]

The right way for her to make more than $8.25 an hour is to become so valuable to her employer that he decides it's better to pay her more to stay than to let her leave and replace her with someone new.

And perhaps not have children she can't afford to raise? Science actually has a pretty good idea how children happen and there are reliable ways to avoid it.

[kylejack]

False. Sellers of labor (the workers) and buyers of labor (the employer) arrive at a wage rate through a market process. The employer will try to pay as little as possible to get the labor needed to do the job, but if an employer tries to buy labor at below the market rate, nobody will sell - nobody will take the job.

Strikes are an attempt to artificially restrict the supply of labor to boost prices. As long as there is no violence, destruction of property, or interference with people's movement, then I have no complaint. I also have no complaint if the employer fires them all and replaces them from the long line of people willing to work for the wages being offered.

There's nothing artificial about the labor supply created by a strike. If I refuse to work for you for X dollars I'm not available to you as labor supply at that price. I'm a free individual and don't have to work for a wage I don't find sufficient.

This is just the free market at work. Employers don't have to pay a wage they consider too high and employees don't have to work at a wage they consider too low.

[DamianTV]

War of Escalation.

The thing is, this is inevitable. But as soon as these guys get $15 an hour for minimum wage, prices on everything will go up to the point that it completely nullifies the quantity increase of the raise. The increase in quantity will decrease the value of each individual dollar. Then people will want $20 an hour minimum wage. Prices again will increase, and that minimum wage increase will again be nullified. Then up to $25 bucks per hour for minimum wage. Followed by $30. Then $40, then $50, $60, $70. It wont stop. Unemployment will continue to rise. More jobs will be handed over to the less expensive robots. Disposable people will have been completely disposed of.

[Jackie Moon]

Sometimes employers don't pay their employees a fair market rate because they want to save money. Strikes help expose these cases. The employer can then either find others willing to do the work for the same price or pay the existing workers more. Nothing wrong with that.

I agree that striking and petitioning your employer for higher wages is fine and sometimes necessary.

Then the employer either decides it's worth the extra money to keep his current employees or finds someone else willing to work for less.

The problem comes when they instead want to get government involved to force the employer to pay higher wages.

[John F Kennedy III]

Organizing a union and striking are legitimate free market actions. McDonald's employees in some countries like Denmark are making $21 an hour, so don't tell me they can't still turn a profit. If you don't want to strike that's up to you, but why criticize others for putting pressure on the bosses for more money? No skin off your nose. Let them do their thing.

Actually now it would negatively effect me so $#@! no $15/hr.

[kylejack]

If the wages of your coworkers was raised to $15 per hour, I'm sure they'd be willing to give you a lot more hours at $8/hr or whatever, since you would then be cheaper.