09) STRIKE LAUNCHES U.S. FAST FOOD UNION DRIVE

            In late July, fast food workers across the US held strikes to demand a living wage, from New York to Chicago, Washington, St. Louis, Kansas City, Detroit, Flint, Seattle and many other cities. Workers have picketed McDonald's, Taco Bell, Popeye's and Long John Silver's restaurants with an ambitious agenda: pay of $15 an hour, twice what many now earn.

            While the stereotype of a fast food worker tends to be a teenager, two-thirds of these workers are adult women, and disproportionately women of colour, many of whom have children and other family to support.

            This is the largest fast food worker mobilization in history. Fast food chains are big employers in low‑income areas, but employees lack many basic protections and benefits. While the average yearly salary for a fast food worker in New York City is $11,000 a year, the average daily salary for a fast‑food CEO is over twice that, and about $200 billion is grossed by the fast food industry annually.

            The full version of the following abridged article by Peter Rugh was originally published in wagingnonviolence.org. For more information, visit www.fastfoodforward.com.

            While the emblems of Wendy's, McDonald's, KFC, Domino's and other greasy dynasties are hard to escape in the American landscape, those who cook, clean, ring up orders and otherwise serve as the fulcrum of these franchises often go unnoticed. These workers, however, were hard to miss as they stepped off burger assembly lines across New York City and into the street, picketing in front of their workplaces. The strike, which took place at numerous restaurants across the city, is the start of the largest effort to unionize fast food workers in American history.

            Organizers are calling the campaign Fast Food Forward. Revenues in the fast food industry are expected to near $200 billion this year. Yet the demands of their workers are modest: $15 an hour and the right to unionize with the Fast Food Workers Committee.

            "We're out here for better wages, better working conditions, and union protection," said Michael, an 18‑year‑old employee of a Burger King located not far from Wall Street. Michael says that growing up he was encouraged to "go the right way and get a job," but now that he has a job he's having trouble getting by. "There's people my age that try to let this stabilize them. We got bills, we got rent. We're living from check to check, hoping the next one will be better and it's not. We can't live on this."

            Gregory, an East Harlem KFC worker several years older than Michael, said he and his coworkers earn minimum wage ($7.25 an hour), receive food stamps and still don't have enough to get by and provide for their kids. Gregory lives in Rockaway, Queens, an area that was inundated with floodwaters from Superstorm Sandy. When he sought back pay from his employer for time lost during the storm, his request was denied. He was given a meal on the house instead.

            Working conditions at fast food franchises tend to be about the same across the board: highly exploitive. The fast food industry provides cheap, warm meals to those pressed for time, who often cannot afford more nutritious forms of nourishment.

            Simultaneously, these corporations take advantage of economic desperation in the black and brown, immigrant and working‑class communities where they can get away with paying starvation wages and reaping gargantuan profits. Wendy's, for instance, took in $615 million in 2011, an increase of 6 percent. But workers say checks from their employer often bounce, and some check cashing outlets won't accept them.

            Organizers with New York Communities for Change (NYCC), which has been working behind the scenes for months to build the strike, say that McDonald's recruits in homeless shelters. Nearly every "benefit" listed on the company's website, including free uniforms, appears with an asterisk beside it, indicating that the supposed perks are "subject to availability and certain eligibility requirements and restrictions." Profits at McDonald's have ballooned 130 percent in the past four years.

            The largest of the fast food behemoths, McDonald's was also the swiftest to shift into damage control mode, issuing a statement informing the public that the company is committed to a dialogue with their employees "so we can continue to be an even better employer."

            Asantewwa Ricks with NYCC said that before she began working on the strike drive, she thought fast food employees were "18‑, 19‑year‑old kids who wanted cash for Beats headphones and True Religion jeans." She has since learned that is not the case. Often, workers remain in the industry for years and see little to no bump in their salary. The minimum wage they receive often forces tough choices on them, such as whether to work late, or to make it back before the shelter where they reside locks its doors. At an organizing meeting early on in the campaign, Ricks asked a room full of fast food workers if they had ever suffered on‑the‑job injuries. Just about everyone present lifted up scars from grease on their arms.

            ..."The goal of this strike is for workers to be able to put food on their table and buy their children presents for Christmas," [NYCC lead organizer] Justin Westin said, though he admits this is a long term battle and likely won't be resolved by the holidays.

            There are 50,000 fast food workers in New York City, and while those who walked off were few in number by comparison, the strike could galvanize workers elsewhere to take a stand as well. If the push for a union is successful, it will be an illustrative example to those both in the industry and in other low wage professions that standing up to the boss can pay off.

            For Michael and his fellow Burger King employees, walking off the job was about more than a wage hike or forming a union. These demands are a means to a higher end. "We work hard, as if we were slaves," he said. "It's not only the wages. It's also about how we get treated. We deserve respect."

(The above article is from the September 1-15, 2013, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC,