Hundreds of fast-food workers in Milwaukee, Wis., walked off the job early Wednesday morning, becoming the latest wave of workers to join the one-day strikes that are sweeping the United States. The Milwaukee walkout is the fifth fast-food workers’ strike in six weeks, joining demands for $15 per hour living wages and the right to form a union without intimidation.
“Things are going amazing. Demonstrations started at 6 a.m. with hundreds of people walking out. There are multiple strike lines. It has been incredible — the community has come out in full force to support the workers,” Jennifer Epps-Addison, an organizer with Citizen Action of Wisconsin, told Mint Press News.
As an organization with 42,000 individual members and 123,000 supporters, Citizen Action of Wisconsin works on environmental, economic and social justice issues. It is one of the organizations helping workers in Wisconsin organize the one-day walkout across the city that is expected to draw at least 200 workers.
As fast-food companies continue to rake in record profits, the majority of their employees remain stuck in minimum-wage positions. McDonald’s, the nation’s largest fast-food restaurant chain in terms of sales, saw a 135 percent profit increase between 2007 and 2011. In 2011, their highest-paid executive made $8.8 million.
Similarly, Yum! brands, whose fast food chains include Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, enjoyed a 45 percent increase in profits between 2007 and 2011. Their highest-paid executive made $20.4 million in 2011.
Compare this to the average fast-food worker who on average earns just $9.05 an hour, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Adjusted for inflation, fast-food wages have actually fallen 36 cents an hour since 2010, even as fast-food empires continue to rake in record profits.
Demonstrations that began in New York one month ago started with a call to increase the low pay that leaves many workers in poverty with few benefits, despite working full-time.
“Here in Milwaukee, we have been incredibly inspired by what is happening in other cities. Originally we came together to talk about raising the minimum wage. There are many more issues than poverty wages but that is where the discussion began,” Epps-Addison said.
Among the most serious concerns for workers is sporadic part-time work, preventing thousands from obtaining benefits and protections afforded full-time employees.
“These workers want clearer scheduling. They are not getting enough hours to get full-time protections and benefits that other workers get. They don’t get a set schedule and many don’t know week to week how many hours they will get. This prevents them from getting a second job to pay bills,” Epps-Addison said.
Workers safety is another salient issue uniting fast food employees across the U.S. who continue to toil in unsafe conditions. With no health insurance, many fast food workers are forced to forgo medical treatment and continue working with untreated injuries.
“Every worker who we have talked to has been burnt by a fire, has had grease splattered on them. Many of them didn’t go to the doctor when they probably should have,” Epps-Addison said.
The one-day protests in New York, Detroit and other cities have yet to yield any major breakthroughs, but organizers are hopeful that they will continue to grow, increasing pressure on management for a living wage.
“We hope this will continue to grow. The most important thing is that we get these workers back to work talking to their co-workers. We want to build and gain more community support. I think there is a lot of pressure nationwide to hear the demands of workers. [Employers] are not just hurting workers, they are hurting the entire economy when they pay poverty wages,” Epps-Addison said.