The Fight for $15

ctg12@duke.edu — Fri, 20 Apr 2018 01:43:08 +0000

Description:

Underwritten by the Service Employees International Union, the Fight for $15 is composed of fast-food workers, home health aides, child care teachers, airport workers, adjunct professors, retail employees—and, as Fight for 15 puts its, “underpaid workers everywhere.”

Goals:

The Fight for $15 has two main goals: to secure a $15 minimum wage and to unionize a wide range of underpaid workers, from fast food and retail workers to graduate workers and adjunct professors. Though those being paid minimum wage in the U.S. are extremely vulnerable and afraid to unionize out of fear of being fired, the Fight for $15 is attempting to give them the support that has been lacking due to the demise of unions over the past several decades. While this may seem like a simple goal, the balkanized nature of the U.S. low-wage labor force entails that is an uphill battle to bring together such a wide range of workers under one umbrella. The workers that the Fight for $15 has unionized thus far are just a drop in the water compared to the United States' low-wage labor force, demonstrating the immense work that is left to be done. More intermediate goals include fighting legal protections for franchised restaurants and simply getting the word out to as many low-wage workers as possible.

Historical/Political Context:

At the heart of the campaign’s theorizing lies a cogent critique of McDonalds and companies like it, who cannot pay a living wage despite making billions of dollars in profits.

By demanding $15 back in 2012, the Fight for $15 pushed the boundaries of what is feasible from the start. Many critics called the demand too lofty at the time, but now $15 is becoming the norm. As Fight for $15 officially puts it, “We didn’t win these increases because we elected supportive politicians to office. We won because we made them support us. That’s the power of direct action, of taking to the streets, of organizing.” While Fight for $15 is negotiating with the state, it is making bold demands and changing the terms of debate.

Today, it is a global movement in over 300 cities on six continents. On top of successfully shifting the terms of debate regarding the minimum wage, there have been numerous wage increases achieved across the country by Fight for $15 and its affiliates. A $15 minimum wage has been mandated in Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York, while Chicago and Kansas City secured a raise to $13. In addition, there have been modest increases in Alaska, Arkansas, and Nebraska. According to SEIU leader, raises have been achieved for over 8 million U.S. workers, with the SEIU spending more than $30 million since the campaign’s conception.

Despite these widespread successes, a difficult path ahead lies ahead for Fight for $15 and United States labor movements as whole. The U.S. economy is incredibly balkanized into separate jurisdictions, which makes organizing lower-tier workers immensely difficult. A large portion of these workers are vulnerable and afraid of being fired, either because they are immigrants or because they possess tenuous employment as temps, freelancers, part-time workers, independent contractors, on-call workers, or employees at franchised operations. As a result, currently, just 1.7 percent of fast-food workers and 5.7 percent of retail workers belong to unions. While a raise to $15 is important, the longer-term protections of a union are needed to win larger wage increases and improvements in working conditions. Going forward, Fight for $15 faces a slight dilemma. To the support these workers, a strong labor movement is needed that provides political and financial support in the form of finances, lobbying clout, and organizing abilities. But these forms of support require engaging with the state and dominant systems.

The theorizing behind Fight for $15 pinpoints changes in the United States’ political economy over the past several decades that render their demands urgent. While many may think of fast food as a side job for teenagers who need extra cash, the median age of a fast-food employee today is 28 years old, and more than a quarter of them have children. This is a result of changes in the U.S. economy that started around the 1970s with deindustrialization. Deindustrialization saw the closing of factories across the country, and, in the time since, the U.S. economy has turned its emphasis to service-sector jobs. As a result, for those at the bottom of the economic ladder, fast food jobs are often the only ones available. The Great Recession sped up this long-term trend, as even college-educated Americans have been forced to enter minimum wage jobs. Low-wage industries like fast food and retail have been the fastest growing American sectors since the Great Recession, outpacing the economy as a whole.

On top of the low wages, seventy percent of fast-food workers are part-time, meaning they work fewer than forty hours a week and cannot obtain close to a living wage. As fast food companies refused to use their increasing profits to pay a living wage, the government has been forced to step in. Researchers at University of California, Berkeley found that about fifty-two percent of American fast-food workers use some form of public assistance. Thus, the Fight for $15 has sought to reframe low-wage workers as vital economic contributors who are being exploited at the expense of the public. This theorizing has been supported by academic research as well. In a 2017 paper, University of Michigan–Dearborn economist Bruce Pietrykowski used skills data along with manager survey data to estimate occupational wages. Using a quantile regression to estimate a skills-based wage for fast food and other low-wage workers, Pietrykowski found evidence that provides “empirical support” for a $15 minimum wage. The study’s results indicated that low-wage workers possess skills that are, in fact, undervalued in the labor market, as low-wage workers require abstract thinking and managerial skills. Supported by ethnographic research, this study reflected the importance of active learning, problem-solving, coordination, monitoring, and negotiating skills to the success of employees in restaurants, fast-food establishments, and hair salons. Meanwhile, the think tank Demos found that fast food executives’ compensation packages quadrupled from 2000 to 2013. The differential between CEO and worker pay in fast food is 1200 to one, which is higher than any other domestic economic sector.

A key difficulty in increasing wages for fast food workers is the use of franchises by many companies. In the case of McDonalds, 90 percent of its fourteen-thousand establishments are owned and operated by franchisees. Though pressured by corporate brass to constantly lower costs, these franchisees were long seen as solely responsible for the abysmal wages their workers received. In March 2014, seven class-action lawsuits were filed against McDonald’s in three states alleging wage theft and other violations of labor law. Then, in July of 2013, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that McDonald’s is a “joint employer” with its franchisees, meaning they are responsible for the pay and treatment of workers. This was a huge victory for Fight for $15, as fast food corporation could no longer hide behind their franchisees.

Structure:

The Fight for $15 is funded by the Service Employees International Union. While there are paid union organizers leading the campaign, many fast-food workers have joined and now carry large roles in the organization. As they describe it, they are fast-food workers, home health aides, child care teachers, airport workers, adjunct professors, retail employees- and underpaid workers everywhere. While SEIU's employees provide support and infrastructure, the workers themselves carry out most protests and do the speaking at events. Though activists and academics are at times given a platform as well, the workers are consistently centered in both theorizing and acting.

Genealogy:

The Fight for $15 (also referred to as Raise Up for $15) first began in 2012 when two-hundred fast-food workers in New York City walked off the job in order to demand $15 an hour and union rights. It then caught on when similar walk-outs happened in the coming months, first across the U.S. and then across the globe. It is underwritten by the Service Employees International Union, which has spent more than $30 million on the campaign.

Campaigns:

||| Rally in Raleigh for North Carolina Wage Board (October 7th, 2015): The Fight for $15 convened a forum at the state legislature to take testimony from workers and supporters and to call for the creation of a “People’s Wage Board” to advocate for raising wages in North Carolina. ||| Durham Joins Fight for $15 Global Day of Protest (April 14th, 2016): As part of a global day of protest against poor wages and working conditions, fast food employees and other underpaid workers strike in Durham for a $15 minimum wage and a union. A morning picket line is formed at McDonald's at 102 East Morgan St., followed by a panel discussion at NCCU's Criminal Justice Building and a larger rally with workers from across the state. ||| Durham Workers Join Nationwide Labor Day Protests by Walking Out of Their Jobs (September 4th, 2017): At 6 a.m., dozens of Durham workers walked out of their jobs as part of a nationwide protest to raise the national minimum wage to $15 an hour. Cooks and cashiers from the local McDonald's, Burger Kings and other restaurants joined employees in 300 other cities as part of the nationwide protest. Later in the afternoon, the Durham strikers moved to CCB plaza. Some dietary aides, nurse assistants, and other employees at hospitals also joined the protest. ||| ||| Greenville Fast Food Workers Commemorate Memphis Sanitation Strike by Protesting for Better Pay (February 12th, 2018): Individuals affiliated with the Fight for 15 and the Poor People's Campaign gather to rally outside the McDonald's on Memorial Drive and Stantonsburg Road. More than a dozen fast food workers protested for a higher minimum wage and workplace equality. The event is held on the 50th anniversary of the Memphis Sanitation Strike in 1968, when a group of African American men gathered to demand a raise in wages to $2 an hour. ||| North Carolina Workers Commemorate MLK's Assassination by Demanding a Living Wage (April 4th, 2018): On the anniversary of King’s assassination, city workers, community-labor support groups, and faith organizations in Winston-Salem, N.C., hold a rally for a living wage of at least $15 an hour. Over 100 people gathered at the event.

Ideological Composition:

The Fight for $15 contests racism, capitalism, patriarchy, and the dominant logics of the American and global capitalist political economies. While many associated with the movement have ben politically active for a long time, many workers have joined out of necessity, as their abysmal wages have left them no choice but to organize. Thus, the movement brings together passionate workers and experienced organizers and activists who can aid them. As displayed in the Fight for $15's decision to start the campaign with fast food employees walking out on the job, laborers are centered and encouraged to take charge. Thus, the ideological ethos of the group is fueled by fast food workers who are marginalized in a variety of ways, from class to race to gender. Thus, "intersectionality" is an intrinsic part of the group's mission, as, for the participants, intersectional oppression is not an academic concept but rather their lived realities.

Communication Strategy:

The Fight for $15 utilizes social media to highlight a range of issues relevant to the group's cause, from the racial wealth gap to exploding CEO pay. By sharing a wide-range of articles, the group contextualizes the oppression faced by fast-food workers within a greater web of oppression. These communications emphasize the intersectionality that is needed to advance the movement; it is not just about raising the wages for fast-food workers, but rather dismantling the multifaceted systems that ensnare society's most vulnerable.

The Fight for $15 highlights their various achievements and victories on the "Press Room" page of their website, allowing visitors to see the large impact the movement has had in such a short time all in one place.

In addition, Fight for $15's protests and strikes have largely taken place in metropolitan areas that are brimming with fast food chains and other retail establishments. By walking off the job and flooding busy city streets around the globe, the workers are making themselves visible to the many residents that rely on their labor but try to keep the laborers themselves out of sight and out of mind. Their signs often represent subversions of fast food companies' logos, attempting to associate these well-known brands with exploitation rather than food. The Fight for $15 is not just about reaching corporate executives and government officials-- it has the more ambitious goal of shifting the dominant logics surrounding low-wage workers in the United States and other advanced capitalist economies. Entrenched stereotypes about low-wage workers will not die any time soon, but, thus far, the Fight for $15 has been very successful far shifting the conversation away from individualistic moralizing towards a focus on structural forces.

In terms of bringing more workers into the fold, the Fight for $15's website has a "For Workers" tab that features steps on how to join the Fight for $15 and how to go on strike. This also includes a "strike letter" that workers can fill out and deliver to their boss to notify them of a strike. The page also has tips on how to go about striking in the most potent way possible.

The Fight for 15 also works with a variety of local unions in order amplify each other's messages. For example, the Fight for $15 has coordinated with the Duke Faulty Union (DFU) for the past several years. Both are affiliated with the SEIU and use the same union offices, thus making it easy for DFU to stay informed of the Fight for 15's activities, and vice versa. DFU helps spread the word about Fight for $15 events and programs through email and social media, as well as participating in their rallies, marches, and demonstrations. DFU members even speak at Fight for $15 events. In turn, the Fight for $15 does the same for DFU, which often uses Fight for 15 speakers at their events. Across the globe, the Fight has fostered similar relationships with local organizations and movements that have proved to be immensely valuable for both sides.

Created New Spaces:

The major goal of the Fight for $15 to bring together the balkanized American low-wage labor force for the purpose of organizing and unionizing. Before the start of Fight for $15, unionization in fast food restaurants and similar occupations was unheard of, as the vulnerable workers could not take the risk of getting fired (a common outcome when low-wage workers organize in any fashion). Thus, a challenging but worthwhile task for the Fight for $15 is opening up spaces for low-wage workers to voice their sentiments and demands without fear of being fired. While it will certainly take a while, this goal is integral for bringing back formidable organized labor in the United States. These new spaces for low-wage workers are integral to combating the atomization of the minimum wage labor force, which greatly aids corporations in isolating workers and keeping wages down. Fight for $15 has helped make low-wage workers feel less alone and more empowered, which is admirable considering the disrespect for fast-food and other low-wage workers that has been continually perpetuated in the U.S. Rather than just demanding slight wage increases, the Fight for $15 demands that low-wage workers be given respect and treated as the vital part of the modern economy that they are.

Incorporated Cultural Forms:

The Use of Multiple Languages to Highlight the Intersectional and Global Nature of the Fight

The Use of Posters to Subvert Corporations' Brands

Oppositional Forces:

The main oppositional forces are fast food corporations and similar employers who pay a low wage. These employers are represented by a strong lobbying apparatus, with one example being the National Restaurant Association. Fast food corporations and similar low-paying employers are deeply-entrenched in Washington, as they realize that the inability to pay such low wages would significantly hinder their business model.

Media Artifacts:

A Fight for $15 protest in New York City. Victor J. Blue / Bloomberg Finance-- http://fortune.com/2016/04/07/where-the-fight-for-15-went-wrong/

Rally in Raleigh for North Carolina Wage Board (October 7th, 2015) NC State AFL-CIO-- http://aflcionc.org/tag/fight-for-15/

Durham Joins Fight for $15 Global Day of Protest (April 14th, 2016) Alex Boerner / INDY Week-- https://www.indyweek.com/news/archives/2016/04/15/what-you-are-fighting-for-is-long-overdue-scenes-from-the-fight-for-15-rally-in-durham

Durham Workers Join Nationwide Labor Day Protests by Walking Out of Their Jobs (September 4th, 2017) WNCN- CBS 17-- http://www.cbs17.com/news/dozens-fight-for-15-in-durham-labor-day-demonstration_2018030710545496/1017006021

Greenville Fast Food Workers Commemorate Memphis Sanitation Strike by Protesting for Better Pay (February 12th, 2018) WNCT- CBS 9-- http://www.wnct.com/news/greenville-fast-food-workers-rally-for-15-an-hour-minimum-wages_20180326040330939/1077244194

North Carolina Workers Commemorate MLK's Assassination by Demanding a Living Wage (April 4th, 2018) https://www.workers.org/2018/04/10/north-carolina-workers-continue-mlks-fight-for-economic-and-civil-rights/

Social Movements - walk-outs

The Fight for $15