The fast-food strikes are growing. What started as a small walkout by workers in New York a month ago spread to Chicago, St. Louis and most recently to Detroit, where hundreds of workers from 60 fast-food restaurants walked off the job Friday demanding a minimum wage of $15 per hour and the right to form a union without intimidation.
It’s a bold move for an industry that has historically relied upon low wage workers toiling long hours in non-union positions. In Michigan, thousands of fast-food workers earn the minimum wage of $7.40 per hour, just under $15,400 a year — leaving many in poverty despite working full time.
Workers from the D15 campaign organizing Friday’s strikes have drawn a line in the sand demanding fair wages and the right to form a union without corporate interference. “Our employers – thriving corporations like McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC, Dollar Tree, Little Caesar’s, Domino’s, Long John Silver’s and others – are making billions, but pay us poverty wages and violate our right to join together to make a better future for ourselves and our families,” organizers posted online.
For many, fast food has become a last resort job when decent paying jobs were outsourced or eliminated due to corporate downsizing. It’s particularly difficult in the Motor City, a city in freefall after the decline of the once-thriving automotive industry.
Gregory Williams, 57, spent decades selling cars, then insurance and then medical equipment. After struggling to find steady work he was forced to accept a job working a late night shift at a McDonald’s restaurant in Southfield, Mich., making just $7.50 per hour.
“I have bills to pay. Rent, food, just basic needs. How can I do that on $7.50 an hour?” Williams said. “Fast food is a $200 billion industry; they can do better than $7.50 an hour.”
The push for a fast food workers union comes at a time of unprecedented attacks against organized labor across the U.S. The proliferation of “right to work” legislation limiting the collective bargaining power of unions has slashed membership, leading to the lowest union rates across the U.S. in 100 years. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in January that just 11 percent of U.S. workers belong to a union.
Despite 20 years of sharp declines in union membership including the elimination of 400,000 union jobs last year, nonunion workers still overwhelmingly favor unions. Jorge Ramirez, president of the Chicago Federation of Labor reports that 60 million workers say they would join a labor union if given the option.
Fast-food workers, like all workers have the chance to improve wages and benefits through collective bargaining. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics records that unionized workers earn wages $4.95 higher on average than their nonunion counterparts, equating to a yearly difference over more than $10,000.