Workers at fast-food restaurants in 15 U.S. cities went on strike on Tuesday, demanding that their minimum wage be raised to $ 15 an hour.
Workers at McDonald’s, Burger King and Wendy’s, along with home care workers and nursing home workers, took action as Biden’s government sought to push in a $ 7.25 federal minimum wage increase, the first increase since 2009 would be.
Strikes took place in Charleston, South Carolina; Chicago; Flint and Detroit, Michigan; Raleigh and Durham, North Carolina; Houston; Miami, Orlando, and Tampa, Florida; St. Louis; Oakland, Sacramento and San Jose, California; and Milwaukee.
Since 2012, the Fight for $ 15 movement has organized low-wage workers in the U.S. to push for state and local minimum wage increases and raise the federal minimum wage to $ 15 per hour.
‘We hear you cheering on essential workers. We see the great performance you are making to thank us. But to be honest, it has not changed in my life yet. We lived on a razor long before Covid-19 hit South Carolina. And we still live by it, ‘said Taiwanna Milligan, a McDonald’s worker in Charleston, who earned $ 8.75 an hour after working in the restaurant chain for eight years. In a recent lawsuit in which he demanded a federal minimum wage of $ 15 per hour. Increase.
Workers are carrying out the strikes because a proposal to increase the federal minimum wage to $ 15 per hour by 2025 has been included in the coronavirus virus relief package. The House Democrats plan to send it to the Senate in the next two weeks.
In the Senate, the legislation still faces potential obstacles, including Democratic Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Cinema of Arizona, who oppose including the bill in pandemic relief, and the possibility that the MP from the Senate can decide a minimum wage measure, can not be included in the legal aid account.
Ieishia Franceis has been working at Freddy’s Frozen Custards in Durham, North Carolina since July 2020, earning $ 9.20 per hour. She was one of several workers who went on strike on Tuesday.
” A minimum wage of $ 15 will set me free to do many things. My main goal is to be able to save enough money to make a down payment on a home and have home ownership. This will allow me to start the process. “It will allow me to transfer money from one salary to the next, to better provide for my family in terms of food, and to be able to provide me with transport, so that I do not have to take the bus,” she said.
In October 2020, Franceis and her associates went on strike after their requests for paid sick leave for Covid-19 quarantine and testing were initially denied. The Families First Coronavirus Response Act, passed in March 2020, exempted employers with more than 500 employees from paying employees two weeks if they had to quarantine or repair Covid-19. Now France and its allies are fighting for a minimum wage of $ 15, danger pay while continuing during the pandemic, health benefits and finally a union.
‘Sometimes businesses get so caught up in doing business that they forget who runs their businesses. We will continue to fight and not stop until we get all the equality we are fighting for, ”Franceis added. “Congress must put our money where their mouth is. During their campaigns, they said they would increase the minimum wage to $ 15 per hour. Live by what you said. We do not have to wait until next year or next year. The bill is there. Just pass it and be done with it. ”
According to a recent analysis by the Brookings Institution, 47% of essential workers are in occupations where the average wage is currently less than $ 15 per hour. Gradually increasing it to $ 15 per hour will increase pay for 32 million workers in the U.S., including 59% of workers with a total family income below the poverty line. With the federal minimum wage increase, 31% of black workers and 26% of Latino workers in the US will get an increase.