Minimum wage activists led by labor unions are promising massive protests Wednesday with thousands of workers clamoring for a $15 hourly wage at fast-food restaurants and other workplaces.
Mass emails from the group Fight For $15 promise that “thousands will gather for MASSIVE rallies for fair pay for all.” The only event specifically mentioned on the group’s website is in New York City. Links allow inquirers to find events near where they live but do not post a comprehensive list. An event is set for Wednesday in Washington at the Martin Luther King Memorial.
Exactly how many protesters will show up and how many will be minimum-wage workers is less clear. Previous events by groups seeking to raise the wage often have failed to match the hype.
Fight for $15 did not respond to an inquiry from the Washington Examiner regarding how many people the group expected at Wednesday’s events and how many would be workers in the fast-food industry, which has been the main focus of the group’s efforts. The group has since pushed for a higher minimum in other industries as well.
“If history is a guide, not that many will walk off,” said Glenn Spencer, vice president of Workforce Freedom Initiative, a Chamber of Commerce group that monitors unions. “There are probably a number of cities where you will see decent numbers of protesters, but not necessarily actual fast-food workers.”
The Fight For $15 group’s efforts are underwritten by organized labor, particularly the Service Employees International Union. Financial filings with the Labor Department show that it poured $23 million last year into organizations staging events as well as public relations firms, think tanks and other advocacy groups related to the effort. They also are paying the legal fees of people bringing unfair labor practice cases against McDonald’s Corp.
Labor unions favor higher minimum wages partly because they make non-union labor, which is generally cheaper, less economical. The campaign is part of a broader effort to force larger corporations to the negotiating table and organize their employees.
Protesting employees were flown in from around the country for a May event in which several were arrested outside McDonald’s headquarters in Oak Brook, Ill. Similar protests at Walmart stores in recent years have generally featured few, if any, Walmart employees. Most have been volunteers from other liberal organizations.
In November, organizers with the union-funded group Our Walmart initially said that there would be 1,600 Black Friday protests at Walmarts nationally, though they directed reporters to what they said would the 10 largest. They said 50 Walmart employees would join in the Washington-area protests, but on the day of the protests only one was identified as participating in the area’s largest event. A Walmart spokesman said at most five to 10 current employees from the metro area, which has 22 stores, took part in the protests.
Organizers say they have the workers’ support even if it cannot always been seen.
“In some of our stores, like in California, we have a large amount of members but we may not have workers who are ready to commit to going on strike because there is still that fear of being fired. So, their communities step up [for them],” Barbara Gertz, an OUR Walmart member, told reporters in a November press call.
Walmart and McDonald’s recently announced that they will increase the base wages at their stores. Union leaders see that as proof their campaign is having an impact.
“Fast-food workers, Walmart workers and other works are rising up and we’re starting to see corporations respond, with Walmart, Target and a number of others give raises, but it’s certainly not enough,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said Tuesday in an interview with the Guardian.
