National News
Fast Food workers Prepare to Escalate wage Fight
CHICAGO (AP) — Fast
food workers say they’re
prepared to escalate their
campaign for higher wages
and union representation,
starting with a national con-
vention
in
suburban
Chicago
where
more
than 1,000 workers will dis-
cuss the future of the effort
that has spread to dozens of
cities in less than two years.
About 1,300 workers are
scheduled to attend sessions
Friday and Saturday at an
expo center in Villa Park,
Illinois, where they’ll be
asked to do “whatever it
takes” to win $15-an-hour
The union has been pro-
viding
financial
and
organizational support to
the fast-food protests that
began in late 2012 in New
York City and have includ-
ed daylong strikes and a
protest outside this year’s
McDonald’s Corp. share-
holder meeting that resulted
in more than 130 arrests.
“We want to talk about
building leadership, power
and doing whatever it takes
depending on what city
they’re in and what the
moment calls for,” said
Fells, adding that the
ramped-up actions will be
‘The ramped-up actions will be
more high profile and could
include everything from civil
disobedience to intensified
efforts to organize workers’
wages and a union, said
Kendall Fells, organizing
director of the national
effort and a representative
of the Service Employees
International Union.
“more high profile” and
could include everything
from civil disobedience to
intensified efforts to organ-
ize workers.
“I personally think we
need to get more workers
involved and shut these
businesses down until they
listen to us,” perhaps even
by occupying the restau-
rants, said Cherri Delisline,
a 27-year-old single mother
from Charleston, South
Carolina, who has worked
at McDonald’s for 10 years
and makes $7.35 an hour.
Delisline said she and her
four girls live with her
mother, but the family still
has difficulty paying utili-
ties and the mortgage while
providing for her children.
She said she has not been to
a doctor in two years and
does not get paid if she
stays home sick.
“To have a livable wage,
it’s going to need to be $15
an hour,” said Delisline.
“We make the owners
enough money that they
have houses and cars and
their kids are taken care of.
Why don’t (they) make sure
I can be able to do the same
for my kids and my fami-
ly?”
The campaign comes as
President Barack Obama
and many other Democrats
across the country have
We honor the many
accomplishments of African
Americans.
It is our primary goal as a
labor union to better the
lives of all people working
in the building trades
through advocacy, civil
demonstration, and the
long-held belief that work-
ers deserve a "family wage" - fair pay for an honest day's work.
A family wage, and the benefits that go with it, not only strength-
ens families, but also allows our communities to become
stronger, more cohesive, and more responsive to their citizens'
needs.
Our family wage agenda reflects our commitment to people
working in the building trades, and to workers everywhere. In this
small way, we are doing our part to help people achieve the
American Dream. This dream that workers can hold dear regard-
less of race, color, national origin, gender, creed, or religious
beliefs.
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Representing more than 5.000 construction workers in Oregon State.
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AP PHOTO/M. SPENCER GREEN, FILE
Convention of service employees leads to commitment to nonviolent disobedience
In this May 22, 2014 file photo, protesters gather outside of the McDonald’s
Corporation headquarters in Oak Brook, Ill., during the annual shareholders
meeting demonstrating for higher wages and the right to unionize. On Friday,
July 25, 2014, in Chicago, organizers are holding the second national
convention of fast-food workers. They’ll be discussing how to move forward
with the protests and other actions calling for higher wages that have been
taking place in cities around the country since late 2012.
attempted to make a cam-
paign issue out of their call
to increase the federal and
state minimum wages.
The current federal mini-
mum wage of $7.25 an hour
translates to about $15,000
a year for someone working
40 hours a week, though
many fast-food workers get
far fewer hours. Obama and
others have called for
increasing it to $10.10.
Fast food workers say
even that’s not enough
because most people work-
ing in the industry now are
adults with children, rather
than teenagers earning
pocket money. The restau-
rant industry has argued that
a $15 hourly wage could
lead to business closings
and job cuts, though
the Seattle City Council
recently voted to raise the
city’s minimum wage to
$15 an hour, phased in over
several years.
A McDonald’s spokes-
woman did not return a
message seeking comment.
The National Restaurant
Association said Thursday
that increasing wages to $15
will not solve income
inequality and that the cam-
paign was an attempt by
unions to boost dwindling
membership.
“Instead of demonizing an
industry that opens doors
for workers of all ages,
backgrounds and skill lev-
els, the focus should be on
finding better solutions to
lift individuals out of pover-
ty,” including policies that
increase education and job
training, said Scott DeFife,
the association’s executive
vice president of policy and
government affairs.
Turnout for the protests
has varied, but they’ve
struck a chord at a time
when the gap between the
country’s rich and poor has
widened. Executive pay
packages also are coming
under greater scrutiny,
including that of McDon-
ald’s CEO Don Thompson,
who was given a pay pack-
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formerly Soup & Soap
SOUL
age worth $9.5 million last
year. Nevertheless, share-
holders
this
year
overwhelmingly voted in
favor of McDonald’s execu-
tive compensation practices.
Nancy Salgado of Chica-
go said she and her two
children share a bedroom
after being forced to move
into an apartment with two
other adults after her hours
at McDonald’s were cut
from 40 a week to about 24.
“I don’t think $15 will
make me rich. ... I just want
an apartment for my family
and be able to have my kids
in their own room, to not
have to wait for the washing
machine or the bathtub, and
I don’t want to be behind on
bills if I take time off or get
sick,” said Salgado, who
earns minimum wage after
12 years with the company.
“If we’ve got to stop
working and shut down
(restaurants) to get it, that’s
what we’re going to do,”
she said.
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