Source: Scott Olson / Getty
Fast-food workers demanding a $15 an hour wage walked out in dozens of cities at 6 a.m. today, starting a year-long campaign to muster the political power of 64 million low-wage workers in next year’s presidential election. According to Fight for $15, which represents the workers and is backed by the Service Employees International Union, the protests which will take place in 270 cities today mark the workers’ largest show of force in the three years since they launched a series of rallies calling for higher pay.
Tens of thousands of workers and supporters were expected to take part in today’s demonstrations, which began around dawn at McDonald’s outlets in downtown Brooklyn, Boston and Philadelphia, among other locations. Protests in as many as 700 additional cities were planned by low-paid home care, child care, farm, FedEx, nursing home and other workers throughout the day.
Unlike their nine previous walkouts, the workers are putting an emphatic political stamp on Tuesday’s activity. They’ll parade to local city halls in the late afternoon and the daylong offensive is expected to culminate with a protest by several thousand workers at the Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee Tuesday night.
Most of the Republican candidates oppose raising the federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour due to the belief that it will hurt job growth. The restaurant industry says it will force employers to replace workers with technology, such as touch-screen ordering tablets.
Democratic front-runner Hilary Clinton recently said she supports a $12 federal pay floor, while Bernie Sanders and Walter O’Malley favor a $15 minimum. Already an influential political force, the workers plan to use their new-found muscle to sway local, state and national elections exactly 12 months from now and say they’ll back any candidate of any party who supports their cause.
The Fight for $15 group says it will hold voter registration drives and neighborhood parties to coax the workers to the polls.
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