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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNotes From a Fast-Food Protest
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/05/notes-from-a-fast-food-protest/371141/?n5tshw
From three blocks away, you could see the large yellow, black, and red McDonalds sign flapping over 6th Avenue in Manhattan. At 6 a.m. last Thursday, the streets were, for the most part, deserted. But beneath this giant M, marking a 24-hour McDonalds location, chanting, marching, and drums filled up blocks of an otherwise quiet space. People were holding sturdy red signs, white paper ones, and larger displays that required several people to hold. So many people congregated outside that they successfully dissuaded passers by from wandering in for a coffee or hash brown. This was the local instance of a world-wide day of action, during which workers in more than 150 cities and 33 countries went on strike for higher pay. Here in New York, the goal is a new $15 minimum wage and the formation of a union without retaliation.
Going global? Where the whole world is standing up for this? said Naquasia LeGrand, who makes minimum wage at a KFC in Brooklyn. That never crossed my mindnot even going viral across the country. Thats amazing to me. Later, by the time the group had moved a few blocks north, from the McDonalds on 6th Avenue and 28th street to Herald Square, theyd gained more supporters and more attention. People from the Professional Staff Congress, the union that represents the faculty and staff at the City University of New York, and the 32IU 24BJ, a union of property-service workers, had rallied many of their own in solidarity. Photographers covering the event gravitated toward a couple with three young boys in tow. People walking by took Instagrams of an impromptu dance circle.
Liz Rene had only eaten a few carrots since she joined the group early that morning, but no matter. Im fueled up. Im excited. Rene, who is 24 and working at McDonalds while in college, is optimistic about the groups demands being met. I think its going to happen sooner than we expected; its going to happen because were going to make it happen. By this time, around 10:30 a.m., the McDonalds on 6th avenue had already re-opened. The windows were cleaned and tourists and regulars were free to hop in for an iced coffee. Rene works at that location, and she was not surprised to hear that it was back to business. You cant stop money flow, she said from Herald Square. You cant stop money flow.
Frankie Tisdale traveled from Canarsie to Manhattan to strike because hes become increasingly frustrated with the work environment at KFC. He has two kids, and his hours have been cut. Tisdale says hes not eligible for full time benefits if he clocks in fewer than 30 hours, and thats what he gets. They change my shift unexpectedly every week, he says, which makes it hard to negotiate picking his kids up from school. Everything I have to scrape up, he says. Im working, and I have nothing.
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Notes From a Fast-Food Protest (Original Post)
xchrom
May 2014
OP
LongTomH
(8,636 posts)1. Thank you for posting this!
There's been attention here to the absolute non-event of "The American Spring" than to a real global movement for economic justice.