Fast food and low-wage retail workers across the country have called for a strike on Aug. 29 to demand better pay and better treatment. We’re proud to stand in solidarity with these brave workers.
Click here to sign the petition and watch their video.
It’s time to boost the economy by raising pay for food service and retail workers The economy is different now than it was before the recession. Millions of good, middle class jobs were wiped out during the downturn, and many of them aren’t being replaced. The jobs that are now being created at a rapid pace — especially in food service and retail — tend to pay very little.
When large, profitable corporations like McDonald’s and Walmart hold down wages and push down standards for benefits, that hurts all of us.
For union members, it means that our employers demand that we accept less, too. They demand cutbacks, higher healthcare costs for employees, and watered down retirement benefits.
When a growing number of workers are paid so little, it slows down the economy for everybody. When workers can’t afford basics — like groceries, rent, or transportation — that reduces our purchasing power in our neighborhoods. Many workers are paid so little they qualify for food stamps and other public assistance. That’s taxpayers’ money that should be going to schools, roads, bridges, and other priorities.
Higher pay will put more purchasing power into the hands of workers, so they can put more money back into their community, boost the economy, and create more good jobs.
Thousands of fast food and retail workers across the country are starting to stand up for a better future. They’re joining together to form organizations and go on strike to call for a $15/hour wage floor for their jobs and the right to form a union without retaliation.
When more workers can stick together in unions, employees will gain enough power to make corporations take them seriously and raise wages.
When workers have a stronger voice to raise pay, that will put us all on a road back to prosperity.
