By Randy LoBasso
– This morning, fast food and low-wage workers in 150 cities across the U.S. walked out of their jobs, demanding a higher minimum wage. In Philadelphia, workers and organizers met on North Broad—some at the McDonald’s at Girard, others marching down from Allegheny.
Demanding $15 per hour, the protests were part of a 2-year campaign to bring attention to the United States’ working poor and allow fast food workers to form a union.
“We’re the richest country in the world, where corporate CEOs are making more money than anyone else, the stock market is going through the roof, and wealth disparity is greater than it’s been since the 20s,” said state Sen. Daylin Leach of Montgomery County, who showed up at McDonald’s this morning before the march down Broad Street. “It’s time that we start allowing workers to live decent lives by paying decent wages. I think that’s a statement that has to be made across the country and whatever I can do to lend my voice to that, I’m proud to do.”
Leach has introduced numerous bills which would raise the minimum wage, including one currently sitting in committee that’d raise the wage to $12—“although $15 would be awesome,” he told PhillyNow.
Ed Henry, of Northeast Philadelphia, says he’s been working at UPS for 18 years—where he’s a member of a union. He began working once a week at a Burger King for extra cash and says the situation is ripe for a union, given the number of workers worried about demanding higher wages for fear of losing their jobs.
As noted by NBC News, walkouts alone are “unlikely to yield raises or union rights in the immediate term”—but they have forced policymakers to pay attention to these otherwise ignored population of low-wage workers. Since 2012, several cities and two states have also passed paid sick leave laws, and earlier this summer, Seattle actually did raise its minimum wage to $15 per hour.
For low-wage worker Jose Torres, who works at Burger King on Frankford Ave. in Northeast Philadelphia, the fight for higher wages has been life-changing. Today was his third action, and he’s traveled as far as Chicago to protest low-wages with other Philadelphia workers and organizers.
“At first I thought it was kind of sketchy, but when I actually see what we do with these actions—it gets people out here motivated and it’s not just fast food people; it’s health care workers, leaders, you’ve got the Jewish Labor Board, all these people are coming out here,” he said.
Still though, he admits it’s been hard to get his co-workers to walk out, for fear of repercussions.
Glenn Davis, Green Party candidate for state House in the 190th District, said he used to work at the McDonald’s on Vine Street, and it, obviously, totally failed to bring in the money he needed to live and raise his three children. And a union, he noted, “would give [the workers here] a voice. As many people are out here — which I’m proud of — there should be a lot more. But there are no unions, so they think they’re gonna get fired. A union would support this.”
McDonald’s put out this statement to reporters this afternoon, which, in part:
“At McDonald’s we respect everyone’s rights to peacefully protest. The topic of minimum wage goes well beyond McDonald’s — it affects our country’s entire workforce. McDonald’s and our independent franchisees support paying our valued employees fair wages aligned with a competitive marketplace. We believe that any minimum wage increase should be implemented over time so that the impact on owners of small and medium-sized businesses – like the ones who own and operate the majority of our restaurants – is manageable. Additionally, we believe that any increase needs to be considered in a broad context, one that considers, for example, the impact of the Affordable Care Act and its definition of “full time” employment, as well as the treatment, from a tax perspective, of investments made by businesses owners.”
Eleven protesters were reportedly arrested after converging at the McDonald’s at Broad and Arch after refusing to vacate the street.
Source – http://phillynow.com/2014/09/04/photo-gallery-fast-food-protest-in-philly-calls-for-15-minimum-wage/
