Public Employee Press

THE WORLD OF WORK
Labor's hope
The fast-food movement

"Not often has the power of one man over another been used more callously than in the American labor market after the rise of the large corporation."
— John Kenneth Galbraith

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

Some 200 fast-food workers from around New York City showed up in the early morning outside a McDonald's in Manhattan.

At the early morning rally, the workers demanded pay of $15 an hour and the right to form union.

Since that day of protest on Nov. 29, 2012, fast-food workers have created a national movement to raise public awareness about the struggles of low-wage workers. Since then, eight nationwide days of protests have occurred. In the November elections, five states passed ballot initiatives raising the minimum wage.

Hundreds of fast-food workers gathered nearby City Hall in New York City on Dec. 4 to mark the second anniversary of the movement.

The protestors included a contingent from Dept. of Education Employees Local 372, which has embraced the movement and supports legislation that would lift the pay of school lunch workers in the city to $15 an hour.

"The push by large, profitable corporations like McDonald's and Wendy's to pay workers as little as possible has left New York with worst income inequal- ity in the nation," said Local 372 President Shaun D. Francois I, one of the speakers at the noontime rally. "Fast food is a $2 billion industry, yet we have more than 3 million men and women in this state who are working hard, playing by the rules, trying to raise a family and still living in poverty."

Executives profit while wages stagnate

The protestors gathered in a McDonald's on Chambers Street, a few blocks away from City Hall Park.

They marched to the beat of drums as they made their way to the demonstration at City Hall Park. Workers carried signs with such messages as "We won't stop," "On strike to lift my family up" and "Whatever it takes for $15 and union rights."

Zenqueta Charles, 22, has earned $8 an hour since she was hired at a Burger King restaurant in Manhattan. "Some have been there eight years and have not gotten a raise," said Charles, who lives with her parents because she can't afford to live on her own.

While workers' wages have stagnated, the compensation packages of fast-food executive quadrupled between 2001 and 2013, according to the think tank Demos. Executives earn an average of $24 million a year.

"It would make a big difference," said Jacqueline Marincic, who works at a Wendy's in Manhattan, describing what earning $15 an hour would mean to her. "I would be able to get my own apartment."

Hector Figueroa, president of Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union, was among the speakers at the rally. SEIU has contributed $10 million to the fast-food movement, according to the New York Times.

"All workers need to be paid $15 an hour," Figueroa said.

New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark- Viverito attended the rally along with several Council members."The quality of life in this city is getting damn hard," she said. "We have a system that is unjust in many ways," she said. The system, she said, can only be changed with collective action.

"If we would raise the wage, we would put more money in the pockets of a million workers," said New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer. "You put more in people's pockets, they spend more money on local businesses."

On the podium, Naquasia Le Grande, who works for a KFC franchise in the city and is a national leader of the fast-food movement, asked the crowd, "What do we want?"

"Fifteen dollars and a union," the crowd responded.

President Barack Obama spoke about the fast-food movement during a speech on Labor Day last year.

"All across the country right now, there's a national movement going on made up of fast-food workers organizing to lift wages so they can provide for their families with pride and dignity," Obama said. "You know what: If I were looking for a good job that lets me build some security for my family, I'd join a union. If I were busting my butt in the service industry and wanted an honest day's pay for an honest day's work, I'd join a union."

At the Dec. 4 rally in New York, Francios said, "We stand in solidarity with workers in McDonald's, Wal-Mart, car washers and airport workers. Fast-food workers are bringing the fight for $15 to every working American, because no matter where a person works - whether it's McDonald's or Wal-Mart, a car wash or an airport - if they work hard they deserve fair pay."