Fast food workers go on strike in honor of MLK

The demonstrations were scheduled to take place in more than 15 cities, including Atlanta, Chicago, St. Louis and Los Angeles. The strike was organized by supporters of Luta for $ 15 and a Union, the labor advocacy group that has been pushing to raise the federal minimum wage from $ 7.25 to $ 15 an hour and grant collective bargaining rights to fast food workers, who are disproportionately black and brown.

The organizing director of Fight for $ 15, Allynn Umel, said the cause of his organization is one that King would have defended, noting that the civil rights icon marched in support of the labor rights of Memphis sanitation workers the day before be murdered in 1968.

Nearly 20% of the estimated 3.9 million fast food workers in the United States are black, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, although black Americans represent only 13% of the US population. Umel said the fast food companies that support King’s legacy and want to continue their fight against institutional racism can start by raising their workers’ wages and allowing them to unionize.

“Raising the minimum wage to $ 15 an hour is one of the most powerful tools for raising black and brown workers,” she said.

McDonald’s cook Rita Blalock, 54, of Raleigh, North Carolina, was one of dozens of fast food workers who participated in a caravan protest outside a McDonald’s restaurant in nearby Durham on Friday.

Blalock said his employer cut his hours in March, when Covid-19-related blocks caused many fast food chains to lose business. Since then, Blalock, who claims to earn $ 10 an hour, has been struggling to pay his bills. She said McDonald’s could improve its situation by raising the minimum wage nationally and granting guaranteed benefits to workers like her, including medical insurance and paid sick leave.

“I couldn’t pay the rent, I couldn’t eat often,” she told CNN Business. “If you can only go to work for so many hours, you don’t have enough to cover what you need to cover in the first place.”

McDonald’s said it unequivocally supports the need for racial equality and social justice and that Friday’s strike does not reflect how it protected and employed more than 800,000 people during the pandemic. The company has stopped lobbying against increases in the federal minimum wage in 2019 and says elected officials have a responsibility to debate, change and set standards.

“We strive to ensure that everyone who works under the Arches reaches a safe and inclusive workplace every day that provides access to ongoing opportunities,” said McDonald’s spokesman Jesse Lewin in an email. .

Wanda Lavender works as a manager at a Popeyes in Milwaukee. The single mother of six, 39, participated in a caravan protest outside a McDonald’s in Milwaukee on Friday afternoon. She said she earns $ 12 an hour and works more than 50 hours a week at Popeyes. Lavender says she hasn’t been paid for sick leave or vacation days since 2019.

“These are the things we have been fighting for over 50 years and we are fighting for the same things now,” she said.

Popeyes did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A turning point

“This moment really comes down to a change and an understanding of the value of work,” said Umel. “It is an acknowledgment that it is far beyond time to ensure that this happens.”