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
Fast food workers in St. Louis staged a mini-action before dawn on Monday morning, prior to heading Memphis for a march in support of a $15 minimum wage. (Photo: @Show_Me15/Twitter)
#FightFor15: Fast Food Workers Stage Rallies Across Country, Demanding Living Wage and Union Rights
The average fast food worker earns too little to afford a two-bedroom rental apartment in every U.S. state
Feb 12, 2018
Fast food and other low-paid workers across the country, with a focus on the South, are staging walkouts and demonstrations on Monday to call attention to the fight for a minimum wage of $15 per hour and the right to unionize.
Together with the Poor People's Campaign, the national group Fight for $15 is staging rallies in cities including Detroit, Los Angeles, and Memphis--the site of the historic sanitation workers' march exactly 50 years ago.
Fifteen hundred marchers are expected to attend a demonstration in Memphis, where workers, supported by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., marched in 1968 to demand safety standards, a living wage, and recognition of their union.
Supporters of the movement are tying the fight for a $15 minimum wage to civil rights.
"The fight for strong unions was at the heart of the original Poor People's Campaign, and it must be at the forefront of our effort as well," said the Rev. William Barber II, co-chair of the new Poor People's Campaign, originally started by King in 1967. "To truly defeat systemic racism, poverty, the war economy and ecological devastation, all working people must have the freedom to come together and harness their power collectively."
According to the compensation research company PayScale, fast food workers make an average of $8.28 per hour. Those wages, depending on hours, leaves those workers making about $15,000 to $21,000 per year.
According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the current minimum wage of $7.25 per hour leaves workers unable to afford a two-bedroom rental apartment in any U.S. state.
The Poor People's Campaign and Fight for $15 are also planning six weeks of "direct action and nonviolent civil disobedience" starting on Mother's Day.
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.
fight for 15laborlivable wagemartin luther king jrminimum wagepeople powerpoor peoples campaignwilliam barber
Fast food and other low-paid workers across the country, with a focus on the South, are staging walkouts and demonstrations on Monday to call attention to the fight for a minimum wage of $15 per hour and the right to unionize.
Together with the Poor People's Campaign, the national group Fight for $15 is staging rallies in cities including Detroit, Los Angeles, and Memphis--the site of the historic sanitation workers' march exactly 50 years ago.
Fifteen hundred marchers are expected to attend a demonstration in Memphis, where workers, supported by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., marched in 1968 to demand safety standards, a living wage, and recognition of their union.
Supporters of the movement are tying the fight for a $15 minimum wage to civil rights.
"The fight for strong unions was at the heart of the original Poor People's Campaign, and it must be at the forefront of our effort as well," said the Rev. William Barber II, co-chair of the new Poor People's Campaign, originally started by King in 1967. "To truly defeat systemic racism, poverty, the war economy and ecological devastation, all working people must have the freedom to come together and harness their power collectively."
According to the compensation research company PayScale, fast food workers make an average of $8.28 per hour. Those wages, depending on hours, leaves those workers making about $15,000 to $21,000 per year.
According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the current minimum wage of $7.25 per hour leaves workers unable to afford a two-bedroom rental apartment in any U.S. state.
The Poor People's Campaign and Fight for $15 are also planning six weeks of "direct action and nonviolent civil disobedience" starting on Mother's Day.
Fast food and other low-paid workers across the country, with a focus on the South, are staging walkouts and demonstrations on Monday to call attention to the fight for a minimum wage of $15 per hour and the right to unionize.
Together with the Poor People's Campaign, the national group Fight for $15 is staging rallies in cities including Detroit, Los Angeles, and Memphis--the site of the historic sanitation workers' march exactly 50 years ago.
Fifteen hundred marchers are expected to attend a demonstration in Memphis, where workers, supported by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., marched in 1968 to demand safety standards, a living wage, and recognition of their union.
Supporters of the movement are tying the fight for a $15 minimum wage to civil rights.
"The fight for strong unions was at the heart of the original Poor People's Campaign, and it must be at the forefront of our effort as well," said the Rev. William Barber II, co-chair of the new Poor People's Campaign, originally started by King in 1967. "To truly defeat systemic racism, poverty, the war economy and ecological devastation, all working people must have the freedom to come together and harness their power collectively."
According to the compensation research company PayScale, fast food workers make an average of $8.28 per hour. Those wages, depending on hours, leaves those workers making about $15,000 to $21,000 per year.
According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the current minimum wage of $7.25 per hour leaves workers unable to afford a two-bedroom rental apartment in any U.S. state.
The Poor People's Campaign and Fight for $15 are also planning six weeks of "direct action and nonviolent civil disobedience" starting on Mother's Day.
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.