McJobs Should Pay, Too: Inside Fast-Food Workers' Historic Protest For Living Wages

[xchrom]

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/11/mcjobs-should-pay-too-inside-fast-food-workers-historic-protest-for-living-wages/265714/



The term "McJob" has come to epitomize all that's wrong with the low-wage service industry jobs that are growing part of the U.S economy. "It beats flipping burgers," the cliché goes, because no matter what your job might be, it's assumed to be better than working in a fast-food restaurant.

Today in New York City, though, hundreds of workers at dozens of fast-food chain stores are walking out on strike, demanding better of those jobs. At McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, KFC, Taco Bell, and Domino's Pizza locations, workers have been organizing, and today they launch their campaign. They want a raise, to $15-an-hour from their current near-minimum wage pay, and recognition for their independent union, the Fast Food Workers Committee.

Saavedra Jantuah, who works at a Burger King on 34th St. in Manhattan, explained that the $7.30 she makes per hour after two years on the job doesn't pay her enough to support her son. "I'm doing it for him, I'm going on strike so I can bring my family together underneath one household," she said. "A union can help us get to where we can make it in New York."

This is the first multi-franchise effort among fast-food workers to organize and demand better conditions, and it's coming on the heels of viral strikes at Walmart stores around the country. Yet this campaign was building before the first Walmart worker walked out. Jonathan Westin, Organizing Director for New York Communities for Change, which led the effort to organize the fast food workers, said that they've had over 40 organizers talking to workers around the city. They've found that overwhelmingly, those workers can't afford basics like food, rent, or a Metrocard to get to work.

[pipoman]

1. The price of a Big Mac

will be going up if they prevail. I guess this may be necessary until the tidal wave of high paying jobs hit that people like Sec. of Labor Robert Reich promised while pushing through the NAFTA and GATT...I'm sure they weren't lying to please their big business interests, eh? Is Hilda Solis just another figurehead or will she actually support labor and find regulatory changes which would help their plight? I suspect the former, but I've grown to be a pessimist on this issue since the Democrats abandoned labor and became repub-lites on labor issues..

[DinahMoeHum]

2. "Mickey D's, What's The Deal? Pay Me More Than A Happy Meal!"

seen on a tweet:
http://www.salon.com/2012/11/29/200_take_part_in_largest_strike_in_fast_food_history/

J.A. Myerson@JAMyerson
"Mickey D's, what's the deal? Pay me more than a Happy Meal!" #fastfoodfwd
29 Nov 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite

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Great idea for a picket line chant! Hope they're saying it.

[xchrom]

3. very good. nt

[PETRUS]

4. K&R