“We can’t survive on $7.25!” This was the theme of the day, as 200 fast food workers, joined by hundreds of community and labor allies, went on strike and protested in front of their work sites Nov. 29. Workers from McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, Taco Bell, Domino’s Pizza, Papa John’s, and KFC, among others, united around the demands for $15 per hour and the democratic right to form a union.
Yarisma, a McDonald’s worker in Harlem, gave Liberation a powerfully straightforward explanation of why she was marching in front of her workplace: “We are tired of being abused and we want better pay. We’re fighting for our rights.”
In mid-town Manhattan, the first picket line popped up at 6 a.m., involving 14 of the 17 McDonald’s workers signed up to work the morning shift. From there, actions spread throughout the city, with relatively large gatherings at a McDonald’s in Harlem, and Wendy’s in downtown Brooklyn. The day concluded with a rally of hundreds in front of the large McDonald’s in Times Square.
Pat Sherwood, a long-time resident of Harlem joined the picket line in her neighborhood and explained: “The significance of this for Harlem is that it involves employment—fair employment, fair wages that can support families. That minimum wage that McDonald’s is paying their employees should be a federal crime. We need to raise workers’ pay and it is done through the unions.”
Poverty wages
The New York State minimum wage of $7.25 per hour is grossly insufficient to support an individual worker, let alone a family. In New York City, the basic cost of living—from rent to the cost of food—is extremely high and has been rising far quicker than wages. Many fast food, retail and other minimum-wage workers in the city rely on social services to survive, and some are living in homeless shelters despite their employment.
According to the website of Fast Food Forward, the workers’ association launched on the same day of the strikes, the average fast food worker earns a mere $11,000 per year. This compares to an average salary of $25,000 per day of the companies’ CEOs. The fast food industry grosses $200 billion annually.
‘This is just the beginning’
At the large Times Square rally, speakers emphasized one message: “This is just the beginning.” A sustained movement is necessary to keep up the momentum, to turn an exciting and inspiring day into organizing victories, and to win a livable wage. Because the workers do not yet have union recognition, they understand that they are also considerably more vulnerable to retaliatory measures on the part of the companies.
Despite potential intimidation, Jessica, another worker at the McDonald’s in Harlem told Liberation: “After today, we go back to work with our heads held high.” Indeed, the morning after striking, workers marched into work alongside chanting supporters and organizers.
At one Wendy’s in Brooklyn, a striking worker was reportedly fired, but an occupation of the restaurant from labor supporters, joined spontaneously by community members, led the manager to reverse the decision.
The Fast Food Forward group, supported by local labor unions and community organizations, has called for a mass march of New York’s low-wage workers for December 6 at Herald Square, starting at 4:30 p.m.
Only 24 hours after the first action took place, nearly 17,000 people had signed a petition to show their support for the striking workers at the website of Fast Food Forward. Thousands around the country also sent a letter to President Obama through the ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) website calling for legislation to be introduced to raise the minimum wage to $15/hour. ANSWER supporters joined the picket lines throughout the day, and are calling for a big turnout at the Dec. 6 march.
Deep radical potential
The fast food workers’ struggle comes just one week after nationwide Black Friday actions at Walmart. Taken together, they are a sign of a new momentum for low-wage worker organizing, and a greater restiveness among U.S. workers who have seen their living standards decline further in the economic crisis. The “recovery”—which only amounts to a recovery of record profits for the biggest banks and corporations—has been practically non-existent.
It is now widely recognized that the organization of the non-union low-wage service sector is the only way to reverse the long-term decline of organized labor and the U.S. working class more generally. Despite the enormous challenges of accomplishing such a feat, when it happens, it will likely have the same monumental impact as the industrial sit-downs of the 1930s.
The large-scale organization of poor workers, who are disproportionately women, Black and Latino—mobilized against the country’s biggest corporations—would have enormous political as well as economic significance.
Such stirrings among poor and oppressed workers open the way for millions of people to question how society is organized, and who holds power. For those who want to see a revival of a revolutionary movement in the United States, nothing can be of greater importance. The actions in New York City can serve as a model for organizers and revolutionaries to initiate struggles elsewhere.
Timothy, a Washington D.C. resident, came on a bus with the community group OurDC “to support those fighting for a living income so they can support their families.” When asked how this relates to people from the District, he responded, “It has got nothing to do with D.C. people—it has got to do with people uniting around the whole world.”
Jessica, a McDonald’s workers, had a similar message to fast food workers across the country, “Get on board! Strike! Don’t be scared—go out for what you believe in and what you deserve.”
