SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
"Five years ago, when 200 New York City fast-food workers first walked off the job for $15 an hour and union rights, nobody gave us a shot. Since then, we've spread this movement to every corner of the country and beyond fast-food," wrote Steven Suffridge, an organizer with Fight for $15. (Photo: SEIU Local 99/Flickr/cc)
'Our Momentum Is Unstoppable': Workers Celebrate as Target Announces $15 Minimum Wage
"Never underestimate the power of organizing."
Sep 25, 2017
In what is being described as a huge victory for the tens of thousands of workers across the country who have for years organized, rallied, and gone on strike for higher wages, Target on Monday announced that it plans to raise the company-wide minimum hourly wage to $11 by next month and $15 by 2020.
"We won't stop until everyone, everywhere, wins $15 an hour and union rights."
--Steven Suffridge, Fight for $15
"Five years ago, when 200 New York City fast-food workers first walked off the job for $15 an hour and union rights, nobody gave us a shot. Since then, we've spread this movement to every corner of the country and beyond fast-food. We did what they said we couldn't: we won. We won in the states, in the cities, with the big politicians and with the big corporations," Steven Suffridge, a Minneapolis McDonald's Worker and Fight for $15 organizer, wrote in an email reacting to the news. "And today, we won $15 an hour for all Target employees."
In celebration, Fight for $15 and other groups began circulating a graphic that echoes Suffridge's message: "When we fight, we win!"
Immediately upon seeing the news of the Target wage boost--which will affect over 320,000 workers throughout the U.S--activists and lawmakers immediately began raising the question: if Target can pay its workers a decent wage, why can't Walmart, McDonald's, and other profitable low-wage corporate giants?
"C'mon McDonalds, Walmart, and everybody else," wrote Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), who recently celebrated Minneapolis lawmakers for overwhelmingly voting to raise the city minimum wage to $15 by 2024. "Pay your workers right!"
As Common Dreams has reported, wages have remained largely stagnant for decades even as CEO pay and corporate profits have continued to soar. According to a recent analysis by the Economic Policy Institute, the compensation of top American CEOs has grown by 937 percent since 1978; typical worker pay rose by only 11.2 percent over that same time period.
With little indication that the Republican-dominated Congress--much less President Donald Trump--has any intention of acting to boost the federal minimum wage, workers have taken it upon themselves to organize and fight back against entrenched inequities and for a livable wage.
Since the Fight for $15 movement kicked off in 2012, many major cities--including Los Angeles, Seattle, and Pittsburgh--have committed to raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Democratic members of Congress, too, have begun signing on--the Raise the Wage Act, which would raise the federal minimum to $15 an hour, currently boasts 165 co-sponsors.
Even with these tremendous victories, there's still a long way to go, organizers acknowledge. Target, for instance, remains viciously anti-union, a fact that presents major questions about the company's professed commitment to the well-being of its workers.
But Suffridge concluded that if workers are able to keep up the pressure on corporations and politicians, the momentum sparked by sustained action across the country "is unstoppable."
"If Target can pay $15/hour, billionaire corporations like McDonald's can do the same," Suffridge concluded. "We won't stop until everyone, everywhere, wins $15 an hour and union rights."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
In what is being described as a huge victory for the tens of thousands of workers across the country who have for years organized, rallied, and gone on strike for higher wages, Target on Monday announced that it plans to raise the company-wide minimum hourly wage to $11 by next month and $15 by 2020.
"We won't stop until everyone, everywhere, wins $15 an hour and union rights."
--Steven Suffridge, Fight for $15
"Five years ago, when 200 New York City fast-food workers first walked off the job for $15 an hour and union rights, nobody gave us a shot. Since then, we've spread this movement to every corner of the country and beyond fast-food. We did what they said we couldn't: we won. We won in the states, in the cities, with the big politicians and with the big corporations," Steven Suffridge, a Minneapolis McDonald's Worker and Fight for $15 organizer, wrote in an email reacting to the news. "And today, we won $15 an hour for all Target employees."
In celebration, Fight for $15 and other groups began circulating a graphic that echoes Suffridge's message: "When we fight, we win!"
Immediately upon seeing the news of the Target wage boost--which will affect over 320,000 workers throughout the U.S--activists and lawmakers immediately began raising the question: if Target can pay its workers a decent wage, why can't Walmart, McDonald's, and other profitable low-wage corporate giants?
"C'mon McDonalds, Walmart, and everybody else," wrote Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), who recently celebrated Minneapolis lawmakers for overwhelmingly voting to raise the city minimum wage to $15 by 2024. "Pay your workers right!"
As Common Dreams has reported, wages have remained largely stagnant for decades even as CEO pay and corporate profits have continued to soar. According to a recent analysis by the Economic Policy Institute, the compensation of top American CEOs has grown by 937 percent since 1978; typical worker pay rose by only 11.2 percent over that same time period.
With little indication that the Republican-dominated Congress--much less President Donald Trump--has any intention of acting to boost the federal minimum wage, workers have taken it upon themselves to organize and fight back against entrenched inequities and for a livable wage.
Since the Fight for $15 movement kicked off in 2012, many major cities--including Los Angeles, Seattle, and Pittsburgh--have committed to raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Democratic members of Congress, too, have begun signing on--the Raise the Wage Act, which would raise the federal minimum to $15 an hour, currently boasts 165 co-sponsors.
Even with these tremendous victories, there's still a long way to go, organizers acknowledge. Target, for instance, remains viciously anti-union, a fact that presents major questions about the company's professed commitment to the well-being of its workers.
But Suffridge concluded that if workers are able to keep up the pressure on corporations and politicians, the momentum sparked by sustained action across the country "is unstoppable."
"If Target can pay $15/hour, billionaire corporations like McDonald's can do the same," Suffridge concluded. "We won't stop until everyone, everywhere, wins $15 an hour and union rights."
In what is being described as a huge victory for the tens of thousands of workers across the country who have for years organized, rallied, and gone on strike for higher wages, Target on Monday announced that it plans to raise the company-wide minimum hourly wage to $11 by next month and $15 by 2020.
"We won't stop until everyone, everywhere, wins $15 an hour and union rights."
--Steven Suffridge, Fight for $15
"Five years ago, when 200 New York City fast-food workers first walked off the job for $15 an hour and union rights, nobody gave us a shot. Since then, we've spread this movement to every corner of the country and beyond fast-food. We did what they said we couldn't: we won. We won in the states, in the cities, with the big politicians and with the big corporations," Steven Suffridge, a Minneapolis McDonald's Worker and Fight for $15 organizer, wrote in an email reacting to the news. "And today, we won $15 an hour for all Target employees."
In celebration, Fight for $15 and other groups began circulating a graphic that echoes Suffridge's message: "When we fight, we win!"
Immediately upon seeing the news of the Target wage boost--which will affect over 320,000 workers throughout the U.S--activists and lawmakers immediately began raising the question: if Target can pay its workers a decent wage, why can't Walmart, McDonald's, and other profitable low-wage corporate giants?
"C'mon McDonalds, Walmart, and everybody else," wrote Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), who recently celebrated Minneapolis lawmakers for overwhelmingly voting to raise the city minimum wage to $15 by 2024. "Pay your workers right!"
As Common Dreams has reported, wages have remained largely stagnant for decades even as CEO pay and corporate profits have continued to soar. According to a recent analysis by the Economic Policy Institute, the compensation of top American CEOs has grown by 937 percent since 1978; typical worker pay rose by only 11.2 percent over that same time period.
With little indication that the Republican-dominated Congress--much less President Donald Trump--has any intention of acting to boost the federal minimum wage, workers have taken it upon themselves to organize and fight back against entrenched inequities and for a livable wage.
Since the Fight for $15 movement kicked off in 2012, many major cities--including Los Angeles, Seattle, and Pittsburgh--have committed to raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Democratic members of Congress, too, have begun signing on--the Raise the Wage Act, which would raise the federal minimum to $15 an hour, currently boasts 165 co-sponsors.
Even with these tremendous victories, there's still a long way to go, organizers acknowledge. Target, for instance, remains viciously anti-union, a fact that presents major questions about the company's professed commitment to the well-being of its workers.
But Suffridge concluded that if workers are able to keep up the pressure on corporations and politicians, the momentum sparked by sustained action across the country "is unstoppable."
"If Target can pay $15/hour, billionaire corporations like McDonald's can do the same," Suffridge concluded. "We won't stop until everyone, everywhere, wins $15 an hour and union rights."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.