Black Friday recap: Strikes, marches lift call for higher wages

November 29, 2014 by

BlackFriday-sceneDemonstrators in the Twin Cities yesterday echoed an expansive call put forth at Black Friday actions across the country to lift workers and their families out of poverty by guaranteeing livable wages, access to earned sick time and a path to forming a union without fear of retaliation.

The target of most Black Friday protests nationwide was, as usual, Walmart, which saw strikes or demonstrations at an estimated 1,600 of its U.S. locations.

Walmart strikers from Apple Valley are, L to R, Cantare Davunt,

Walmart strikers from Apple Valley are, L to R, Cantare Davunt, Kelsey LaMott, Jordan Berg and Lisa Austin.

In the Twin Cities, 500 demonstrators marched on the Midway Walmart in St. Paul, supporting four workers from Apple Valley who wrapped up a three-day strike on Black Friday. The strikers, Lisa Austin, Jordan Berg, Cantaré Davunt and Kelsey LaMott, are members of OUR Walmart, a worker-driven organizing effort to raise wages and improve working conditions.

Several other Apple Valley workers considered joining the strike, Austin said, but “are afraid of losing their jobs, are afraid of being bullied or retaliated against – whatever management can do to silence us.”

[Click here to view video footage of the Black Friday march in St. Paul.]

The strikers cited a variety of reasons for joining the OUR Walmart action.

Austin, who works nights because she and her husband can’t afford child care for their 6-month-old baby, said she’s tired of being denied time off on weekends when her husband leaves for National Guard training. For Berg, the last straw was being written up for an emergency trip to the bathroom, considered an “extra break” by management.

LaMott, who has four years of experience working for Walmart, is autistic, and she said she has faced insensitive and harassing remarks related to her disability. “Nothing is going to change if you don’t stand up and fight for it,” she said.

Marching behind OUR Walmart’s banner, with hundreds of people behind them, the four strikers sought to enter Midway Walmart, but found the doors locked. A store manager talked briefly with them outside, as supporters led chants of “Stand up, live better!”

web.BlackFriday-signBerg called the community support “amazing” and said it reaffirmed his decision to go on strike.

“We’re a little worried about management retaliating, but if they do, we know we’ve got people who will fight with us,” he said. “It’s great to know how many people came out here to support us today, and it really does mean a lot to us.

“We thought we were going to be the only people out here, honestly. It’s a great feeling.”

From Midway Walmart, demonstrators marched to the McDonald’s on University and Snelling, which they briefly occupied. Inside, McDonald’s worker Guillermo Lindsay called on the company to raise wages for its frontline employees and provide access to paid sick time.

Lidsay is one of 29 workers from 14 fast-food restaurants in the Twin Cities who went on strike in September. They are organizing with CTUL, the low-wage worker center based in Minneapolis, for higher pay, improved working conditions and the right to form a union.

Guillermo Lindsay (R) is a McDonald's worker active in CTUL's organizing campaign. He says workers coming in while sick is a problem at the restaurant where he works.

Guillermo Lindsay (R) is a McDonald’s worker active in CTUL’s organizing campaign. He says workers coming in while sick is a problem at the restaurant where he works.

“I was forced to come in sick a few weeks ago … and I got a couple of my co-workers sick,” Lindsay said. “That’s why I’m here today fighting for paid sick leave. But one voice is not enough; we need millions of voices.”

A coalition of Minnesota non-profits, unions and faith groups – many represented at the Black Friday march – plan to push state lawmakers, when they return to the Capitol in January, to pass legislation increasing Minnesotans’ access to earned sick time.

Members of CTUL, a Spanish acronym for Center for Workers United in the Struggle, who clean big-box retail stores, meanwhile, organized an early-morning picket line yesterday at The Quarry shopping center. Workers employed by cleaning contractors that service 50 stores across the metro joined the strike, and more than 150 strikers and supporters walked the picket line.

The workers are demanding that retailers like Home Depot, Best Buy, Kohl’s, Sears and other stores follow the lead of Target, which entered into a groundbreaking agreement with CTUL earlier this year. The “Responsible Contractor Policy” requires Target’s cleaning contractors to enter into a dialogue with workers about scheduling and conditions, and provides a pathway to organizing a union.

“It is time for all of the cleaning contractors to partner with workers to raise standards across the industry,” Maricela Flores, a retail janitor and CTUL member, said. “While we are hopeful about ongoing dialogue with some cleaning companies, we want to be clear that words alone don’t put food on our plates.

“We will no longer sit back quietly as cleaning companies steal years off of our lives and the lives of our families by paying poverty wages.”

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Twin Cities fast-food workers strike for higher wages, union rights

September 4, 2014 by
Striking workers rally inside a McDonald's in Uptown Minneapolis.

Striking workers rally inside a McDonald’s in Uptown Minneapolis.

Twenty-nine workers from 14 fast-food restaurants in the Twin Cities walked off the job today, joining a nationwide strike for higher pay and the right to organize a union without retaliation from their employers.

Striking workers joined elected officials and supporters from the faith, labor and progressive community at demonstrations outside – and inside – two McDonald’s restaurants in Minneapolis, calling for an industry-wide minimum wage of $15 per hour.

“I have been working in the food service industry for 31 years,” said McDonald’s worker Teresa Benson of Minneapolis. “I recently started working at McDonald’s, and the wage here is far too low for the industry. We deserve more.”

Going on strike and taking collective action, Benson added, “is the only way these companies are going to listen to us and pay us what we deserve.”

web.fastfoodstrike3Inside the McDonald’s in Uptown Minneapolis, striking worker Ismael Santos accused his employer of failing to pay him appropriately for working overtime, and said his pay was docked when money went missing from the store’s cash register.

Santos is not alone. According to a poll by Hart Research, 89 percent of fast-food workers have had money stolen from their checks.

“It’s not just me,” Santos said through a Spanish interpreter. “It’s fast-food workers from across the industry… Don’t be afraid! Join us!”

Plenty of Twin Cities workers are doing just that, according to organizers with CTUL, a Spanish acronym for “Center for Workers United in the Struggle.” The low-wage workers’ center began organizing Twin Cities fast-food workers just three weeks ago – and was overwhelmed by workers’ eagerness to take action.

“An organizer came up to me and asked, ‘Would you like to make more money?’ I was like, ‘Hell yeah!’” said Nakia Joseph, who walked off the job at the Upton McDonald’s today. “I know it’s not just going to happen overnight, but I have faith it will happen. We can do this together.”

Joseph’s supervisor, Guillermo Lindsay, joined her on the picket line today. He said it’s not right that he and Joseph earn between $8 and $10 per hour, while fast-food executives take home millions.

“Eight or 10 bucks an hour for the hard work we do? It’s not even worth it,” Lindsay said.

Lindsay and Joseph expressed confidence they would not face retaliation for joining the strike.

“They can’t stop us from doing what we believe in,” Lindsay said.

Striking workers from the Uptown McDonald's include (L to R) Eneida Jaimes, Nakia Joseph, Guillermo Lindsay, Tarcila Cruz and Maritza Vidal, with Jayleen Mendez.

Striking workers from the Uptown McDonald’s include (L to R) Eneida Jaimes, Nakia Joseph, Guillermo Lindsay, Tarcila Cruz and Maritza Vidal, with Jayleen Mendez.

Filed Under: Organizing, Union Events Tagged With: , , , ,

Twin Cities workers will join fast-food strikes nationwide

September 2, 2014 by

CTUL-final-logo1The next wave of fast-food strikes will include Twin Cities workers.

Organizers with CTUL, the low-wage workers’ center based in the Twin Cities, announced today that area fast-food workers will walk off the job Thursday, joining a nationwide campaign to raise wages and improve conditions for the industry’s frontline workers.

CTUL has not announced which fast-food restaurants will see strike activity, only that the walkouts will take place at 6 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Thursday.

Area clergy, community allies and lawmakers, including U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, will walk the picket line in support of striking workers, CTUL said.

Although not a union, CTUL – a Spanish acronym for “Center for Workers United in the Struggle” – was the organizing force behind retail cleaning workers’ successful campaign for better working conditions inside Twin Cities Target stores.

Several times during the protracted Target campaign, retail cleaning workers used short-term strikes to raise the public profile of their campaign – a strategy fast-food workers nationwide have been employing since McDonald’s workers in New York first walked off the job in November 2012, demanding wages of $15 per hour.

The “Fight for $15” campaign has spread to other cities, including strikes in Midwest cities like Milwaukee, Chicago and St. Louis. But Twin Cities actions so far have been limited to demonstrations of solidarity with striking fast-food workers.

That changes Thursday.

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Strike supporters say fast food’s poverty wages bad for workers, communities

December 5, 2013 by
Demonstrators in Minneapolis show their support for striking fast-food workers across the U.S.

Demonstrators in Minneapolis show their support for striking fast-food workers across the U.S.

As fast-food workers in an estimated 100 U.S. cities walked off the job today to protest the industry’s poverty-level wages, union members and faith leaders in Minnesota showed their solidarity – and their support for raising the state’s minimum wage – outside a block of fast-food restaurants in Northeast Minneapolis.

The demonstration took place over the lunch hour outside McDonald’s, Burger King and Taco Bell restaurants on Stinson Boulevard. Solidarity demonstrations also took place today in St. Paul and Cambridge, 45 miles north of the Twin Cities.

Isaiah Campbell (L) and Anytrea Baker talk about the effects of poverty wages on workers, families and communities.

Isaiah Campbell (L) and Anytrea Baker talk about the effects of poverty wages on workers, families and communities.

Isaiah Campbell, a member of Local 284 of the Service Employees International Union, joined the Minneapolis demonstration, he said, because as a former fast-food worker, he knows “what it’s like to have to work 80 hours per week just to pay my bills.”

“McDonald’s makes billions in profits each year,” Campbell said. “Their employees have a significant hand in making that happen. Instead of helping them sign up for government subsidies, they should pay them a decent wage.”

The median wage among front-line workers in the fast-food industry is $8.69, according to a study released in October by researchers from two universities. The median number of hours worked per week is 30, and only 13 percent of front-line workers receive health benefits through their employers.

The report, “Fast Food, Poverty Wages,” also debunked common stereotypes of fast-food workers. Most, in fact, are adults for whom “fast-food wages are an essential component of family income.”

Wages that keep workers in poverty “not only hurt the employee, they hurt the community as a whole,” Rev. Grant Stevensen of Spirit of the Truth Church in St. Paul said. He noted that more than half of front-line workers in the industry rely on public assistance to support themselves or members of their families, costing taxpayers $7 billion per year.

“When you ask someone to work for you, you’re asking for a sacred thing. You are asking for their life,” Stevensen said. “When you ask someone for their life, they should be able to live.”

Fast-food strikers’ demands include starting wages of $15 per hour and the freedom to organize for a voice on the job without the threat of retaliation from their employers.

Campbell remembered approaching management at one of his fast-food jobs in an effort to improve working conditions, and the reaction he drew “was kind of harsh.”

“They raised my responsibilities for a couple days, but I didn’t see a wage raise,” he said.

The fast-food strikes come a week after activists in Minnesota staged a week of action calling out poverty-wage employers like Walmart and Target – and calling for an increase in the state’s minimum wage. Activists outside McDonald’s today cited the fast-food strikes as more evidence momentum is on their side.

“I am here to support any and everybody who works for minimum wage,” said Anytrea Baker, a member of SEIU Local 284. “We need to raise it.”

Striking fast-food workers also received a showing of support from 53 members of Congress, including Minnesota DFL Reps. Betty McCollum and Keith Ellison. They signed onto a letter urging McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson to heed the call to end poverty wages in his restaurants.

“Paying fair wages and putting more spending money in the hands of consumers will strengthen our economy and put our nation on the path to greater prosperity for all,” the letter says, urging Thompson to work with striking workers to “find solutions to this moral and economic issue.”

[Click here to tell your legislator you support raising Minnesota’s minimum wage to $9.50 by 2015.]

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Minnesotans to support fast-food workers’ strike for better wages

December 4, 2013 by
Rev. Grant Stevensen and SEIU Local 284 Executive Director Carol Nieters speak to activists outside a Wendy's in Minneapolis.

Rev. Grant Stevensen and SEIU Local 284 Executive Director Carol Nieters joined a demonstration outside Wendy’s in Minneapolis in October.

Building on a string of public actions last week calling out poverty-wage employers across the state, Minnesota activists will stand in solidarity tomorrow with fast-food workers planning one-day strikes in more than 100 cities nationwide.

Organizers today laid out plans for solidarity demonstrations tomorrow outside two McDonald’s restaurants around the metro area:

• In Northeast Minneapolis, activists will demonstrate at noon outside the McDonald’s at 1440 Stinston Blvd. [Click here to view the Facebook event page.]

• In Cambridge, 45 miles north of the Twin Cities, activists will demonstrate from 11:30 a.m. to noon outside the McDonald’s at 11 Garfield St. South. [Click here to download the event flier.]

Fast-food workers across the country are joining together to fight for better wages, and their campaign has picked up steam over the last year. Workers staged short-term strikes in a handful of cities in August, demanding $15 per hour and the freedom to form a union without retaliation from their employers.

Protests tomorrow are expected in 100 cities, and solidarity demonstrations are expected in 100 more, including Cambridge and Minneapolis.

Labor and faith groups backing the local demonstrations are part of a coalition pushing Minnesota lawmakers to pass a bill this winter that would raise the state’s minimum wage to $9.50 by 2015. That effort gained momentum last week, thanks to a series of actions around the metro highlighting the impact poverty wages have on working families and their communities.

Just as fast-food workers intend to do tomorrow, workers at Walmart in Brooklyn Center and workers who clean area Target stores staged short-term strikes to protest low wages. On Black Friday, about 1,000 people marched on Target and Walmart and called for a minimum-wage hike.

Poverty wages at fast-food restaurants come at a particularly high cost to taxpayers, according to the findings of a study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, released in October.

The study found 52 percent of front-line workers in the fast-food industry rely on public assistance – like food stamps and Medicaid – to support themselves or their families, costing taxpayers nearly $7 billion per year.

Rep. Keith Ellison released a statement via Minnesotans for a Fair Economy in support of the striking workers nationally, and he applauded the Minnesota community for standing up in support of them.

“In the richest country in the world, no one working full-time should be living in poverty,” Ellison said. “The movement against poverty wages gets stronger each time a working American bravely stands up. I stand with the workers walking off the job today because too many people working at fast-food restaurants are barely able to put food on their own tables.”

Filed Under: Union Events Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Taxpayers are subsidizing fast-food industry’s low wages, report finds

October 17, 2013 by
Activists pass out fliers highlighting the findings of a new report on the public cost of fast-food wages outside a Minneapolis Wendy's restaurant.

Outside a Minneapolis Wendy’s, activists pass out fliers highlighting a new report on the public cost of fast-food wages.

That extra value meal might seem like a bargain, but a new report shows low prices on the fast-food menu come at a high cost to U.S. taxpayers.

How much? Nearly $7 billion a year.

That’s the cost of public assistance for fast-food workers and their families, according to “Fast Food, Poverty Wages,” a report released Tuesday by researchers from the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The report undermines industry-backed stereotypes of fast-food workers as teenagers gaining valuable employment experience, or students mixing part-time work into their busy schedules.

In reality, fast-food workers are more likely to be parents than to be living with their parents. Most are adults for whom “fast-food wages are an essential component of family income,” according to the report, which looked at “core” workers – those logging 10 hours or more per week, at least 27 weeks out of the year on the industry’s front lines.

The industry’s low wages, coupled with its approach to scheduling, mean people working fast-food jobs are more likely than other workers to live in or near poverty, the report found. The median hourly wage for core, front-line workers in the industry is $8.69, and the median number of hours worked is 30 per week. Only 13 percent receive health benefits through their employer.

With basic needs like food, shelter and health care out of reach, 52 percent of front-line fast-food workers seek public assistance for themselves or their families. Medicaid, the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Aid for Needy Families (TANF) are “indispensible programs” for fast-food workers, according to the researchers.

‘Unacceptable and unsustainable’

To activists who demonstrated outside the Wendy’s restaurant off Lake Street and Hiawatha Avenue in Minneapolis on Tuesday, the new report was more evidence that taxpayers are picking up the social costs of fast-food companies’ low wages and staggering profits.

“Fast food companies like Wendy’s have accumulated profits in the billions of dollars, yet they are saying they can’t afford to do more for their workers,” said Carol Nieters, executive director of Service Employees International Union Local 284.

SEIU members joined forces with the community outreach organization Minnesotans for a Fair Economy to stage the demonstration. Activists waved leaflets at cars exiting the Wendy’s drive-through, and they talked to customers about the findings of “Fast Food, Poverty Wages,” the findings of which, Nieters said, highlighted a “sad moment in our nation’s history.”

Rev. Grant Stevensen, a pastor at St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church in St. Paul, joined the protest out of concern not just for fast-food workers, but also for franchise owners, who are being “squeezed more and more by the parent company,” he said.

“We are tied together as a patchwork in this country,” Stevensen said. “Whether we rise or we fall, we do that together. It is imperative the faith community be involved in this call for justice because we don’t have to live this way. We can create a different future that works for everybody.”

Raise the wage!

Both Stevenson and Nieters pointed to the report as more evidence to support raising the minimum wage at both the state and federal levels. The Minnesota Legislature is likely to take up a minimum-wage bill during the 2014 session, and labor, faith and progressive groups have formed a coalition planning to push a $9.50-per-hour minimum wage.

Authors of the report agree: Stronger minimum-wage laws would go a long way toward bridging the gap between fast-food workers’ wages and their basic needs, while easing the burden on taxpayer-funded programs.

“The results of this report suggest (public assistance) programs would be more effective if they were combined with measures to improve wages and health benefits among low-wage workers,” the report says. “Many fast-food workers earn close to the minimum wage and would benefit from an increase in the minimum wage or through targeted local laws to raise labor standards.”

The report also notes that “very few fast-food restaurants have collective bargaining agreements,” which would “increase wage and benefits standards” in the industry.

One thing Nieters knows for sure is fast-food companies won’t increase wages and benefits for their workers without public pressure. “Corporations like Wendy’s will not do more for their workers because it’s the right thing to do,” she said.

Click here to add your name to a petition in support of raising Minnesota’s minimum wage to $9.50 by 2015.

Rev. Grant Stevensen and SEIU Local 284 Executive Director Carol Nieters speak to activists outside a Wendy's in Minneapolis.

Rev. Grant Stevensen and SEIU Local 284 Executive Director Carol Nieters speak to activists outside a Wendy’s in Minneapolis.

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Twin Cities cleaning workers join nationwide call for higher wages

August 29, 2013 by
Angela Macario joins a demonstration in support of striking fast-food workers.

Angela Macario joins a demonstration in support of striking fast-food workers.

Angela Macario doesn’t work for a fast-food restaurant, but she knows what it’s like trying to support a family on low wages. That’s why she joined a demonstration in Roseville today in support of striking fast-food workers in 50 cities nationwide.

Macario works for the cleaning contractor KBS Until recently, Macario worked for Star City Commercial, a subcontractor for Kellermeyer Bergensons Services (KBS), which bills itself as the largest provider of retail cleaning services in North America. Macario cleaned retail stores like Marshalls, Michaels and T.J. Maxx.

A mother of six, Macario said the work “doesn’t pay you anything” – and she meant it quite literally.  Macarios quit her job because, by her count, Star City Commercial refused to pay her for time she spent working.

Macario was one of several members of CTUL, an organization of low-wage workers in the Twin Cities, who attended the solidarity demonstration off Snelling Avenue and County Road B today. CTUL organizer Veronica Mendez said the action was intended to raise awareness of both the fast-food strikes and similar efforts afoot locally.

“We are a part of this national movement, standing in solidarity with our brothers and sisters across the country,” Mendez said.

CTUL has focused its outreach in recent years on workers who clean big-box stores like Target, where cleaning workers staged a two-day strike in June.

CTUL members do not work directly for Target, which contracts out its cleaning services. But that doesn’t let the retail giant off the hook, Mendez said.

“We call on Target to be a leader in this industry, to use respectable cleaning contractors that respect workers’ rights and allow workers to have a voice on the job,” she said.

Fast-food workers, who typically earn less than $9 per hour, are asking their employers to commit to paying $15 per hour.

Critics argue such measures are unnecessary, claiming workers in the industry are predominantly teenagers and people seeking part-time work. But an analysis of government data by the Center for Economic and Policy Research tells a different story.

The study found that 70 percent of workers in fast-food restaurants are not teenagers, and 50 percent are 23 and older.

Macario, meanwhile, has even bigger problems than low wages. She and other employees accused KBS Star City Commercial of not paying them in full for their work. The employer agreed to meet with CTUL to discuss the allegations, Mendez said. KBS and the retailers whose stores Macario cleaned continue to deny any responsibility.

“We’re here to ask these big-box stores to take responsibility for what is going on in their stores,” Macario said.

(Updated with corrections Aug. 30, 10:45 a.m.)

Demonstrators gathered across the street from SuperTarget in Roseville.

Demonstrators gathered across the street from SuperTarget in Roseville.

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