After Almost a Decade, Fight for $15 Has Made Progress — But It’s Not Enough
A national “Fight for $15 and a Union” action yesterday saw thousands of McDonald's workers walk out of their jobs against low pay and disrespect on the job. The decade-long campaign has seen acts of heroism by low-wage workers — but it hasn’t yet been enough to win.
An organizer for Fight For $15, speaks during a rally in Houston, Texas. (Brandon Bell / Getty Images)
Kenyatta Cochran, thirty-nine, has been working at a McDonald’s in Detroit for three years and makes $10 an hour. “That’s not enough to feed my family,” she told Jacobin yesterday morning, just before heading out to picket with her coworkers.
Cochran led a walkout of cooks and cashiers at her McDonald’s yesterday, and more than a dozen of her coworkers joined her as part of a national action by McDonald’s workers organized by the “Fight for $15 and a Union” campaign, supported by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). The day’s action had two simple demands: $15 an hour — “at a minimum,” Cochran adds — and a union.
The Detroit McDonald’s workers were joined in their walkout by McDonald’s employees in Flint, Kansas City, Milwaukee, St Louis, Orlando, Tampa, Los Angeles, Oakland, San Francisco, Durham, Fayetteville, Houston, Miami, and Chicago.
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