NYC Fast-Food Workers Join 100-City Strike Wave

 

A Year After Initial Walkout, Movement for Higher Pay Continues to Grow Rapidly

 

Supporters Hold Rallies in More than 100 Additional Cities

 

New York - One year after the first strike hit the $200 billion fast-food industry, NYC workers walked off their jobs Thursday, joining a 100-city strike wave. Workers went on strike in every region of the continental United States and were joined by supporters rallying in an additional 100 cities, as the fight for $15 an hour and the right to form a union without retaliation continues to grow.

 

"I can't believe how far we've come," said Brooklyn KFC worker Naquasia LeGrand. "We started a year ago here in New York with workers from a couple dozen stores. Today there are thousands of workers, in 100 cities, all coming together to fight for wages that we can support our families on."

 

The workers went on strike from major national fast-food restaurants, including McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's and KFC.

 

"It's inspiring to see the powerful voice fast-food workers have built in just one year," said Kendall Fells, Organizing Director of Fast Food Forward. "When 200 New York City fast-food workers went on strike last year, they never dreamed it would grow into a movement with thousands of workers in 100 cities across the country. This campaign continues to go viral as more workers are standing up and taking bold action and increasingly elected leaders, community groups and the public are speaking out about the economic urgency of helping these workers raise their wages."

 

The strikes are part of a growing fast-food worker movement that started with 200 workers striking in a single city - New York City - just one year ago. Backed by labor, community and clergy allies, it quickly spread around the country, with strikes in New York and seven additional cities in the spring and summer. As a result of those walkouts, workers from dozens of cities across the United States began to get in touch via Facebook, lowpayisnotok and through the websites of the campaigns. 

 

The movement has grown steadily since then, with 60 cities going on strike on Aug. 29 and now thousands of workers walking off the job in 100 cities. This is the latest in an escalating series of walkouts and protests by workers across the country. Last week, more than 100 workers and supporters were arrested as thousands of Walmart workers protested at 1500 stores nationwide on Black Friday, calling for Walmart to publicly commit to paying $25,000 a year, providing full-time work and ending illegal retaliation.   

 

Recognizing the economic urgency of helping these workers raise their wages and concerns over the two-track recovery, clergy, elected officials, and community supporters joined fast-food workers on the strike lines in cities from Seattle to Tampa.

 

"Change is coming for the hundreds of thousands of low wage workers in NYC and the many millions more nationwide. With the recent $15 minimum wage legislation passed in Seatac, Washington and the national push for a living wage across the country, this movement is making serious strides toward lifting low wage workers out of poverty," said New York City Councilmember Ydanis Rodriguez.  "With today's action, we are sending a clear message that the corporate-centric labor policies of the past 30 years will no longer cut it, because too many in this nation have seen their pay stagnate while their living costs perpetually rise. Today we say enough; today we say all workers must be treated with the dignity and respect they deserve and have rightfully earned."

  

"Our community is united in standing up against the routine abuse and intolerable conditions low wage fast food workers are facing," said NY State Senator Adriano Espaillat. "It is shameful that New Yorkers working a full time job are forced to rely on food stamps and other forms of public assistance. Working together, we can achieve sweeping changes in an industry that has become synonymous with exploitation and help millions of low income families across the country take care of their children." 

 

"This city is made great by its workers. They serve as the foundation upon which New York is built. Yet for too long their well being has come second to corporate interest," NY State Assembly Member Gabriela Rosa said. "Today's action says this is no longer acceptable. Today's action reminds us that these are not unskilled but essential workers, and they have a right to be compensated as such."   

 

"Everyone that works hard and contributes to their local economy deserves to be compensated with a fair and livable wage," Said NYC Council Member-Elect Mark Levine. "Unfortunately for far too long, fast food workers have not been adequately compensated for the valuable work that they do, which is completely unacceptable and cannot continue. We must all stand united as we call for an increase in the minimum wage and support these workers as they stand up for their rights and their ability to support their families." 

  

Fast food is a $200 billion a year industry, yet many service workers across the country earn minimum wage or just above it and are forced to rely on public assistance programs to provide for their families and get healthcare for their children. Nationally, the median wage for cooks, cashiers and crew at fast-food restaurants is just $8.94 an hour.

 

In New York City there are 55,000 fast-food workers- many of whom report earning the state's $7.25 / hour minimum wage. An adult with one child needs to make $24.69 an hour working full time just to afford the basics, according to a model developed by a professor at MIT, available here: http://livingwage.mit.edu/counties/36061

 

A recent report by the University of California-Berkley found that more than half of front line fast food workers, including more than half of those who work more than forty hours per week, earn so little they are forced to rely on public assistance programs, costing taxpayers $7 billion per year. Following that report, news broke that McDonald's - the worst offender relying on taxpayers to pick up the slack for its low wages - was actually directing its workers to apply for public assistance on its McResource hotline.

 

Low-wage jobs have accounted for the bulk of new jobs added in the recovery, and retail and fast food are among the fastest-growing sectors, slowing the recovery and hurting our local economy. A recent study from the Economic Policy Institute finds that wages were flat or declined for the bottom 60 percent of workers from 2000 to 2012, even while productivity grew by 25 percent over this same period. And while median household income has risen, according to a new study, it is still more than 6 percent below pre-recession levels. That loss in income has been most acute among low-wage workers, who have also seen a disproportionate drop in real wages in the recovery.

 

Companies like McDonald's, Burger King and Wendy's have said that their low-wage jobs are stepping stones to better ones, but that couldn't be further from the truth. A report released last month by the National Employment Law Project reveals managerial positions make up just 2.2% of all jobs in the industry, proving that fast-food jobs are not the "launching pad" industry officials would like Americans to believe. Likewise, the industry's claim that its workers are teenagers is simply not backed by fact. Seventy percent of fast-food workers are in their 20s or older and more than one-quarter of fast-food workers are raising at least one child.