FAST FOOD WORKERS STRIKE NATIONWIDE

By Miriam Raftery

September 4, 2014 (San Diego)--Fast food workers across America on Thursday put down their burger flippers and picked up picket signs.  Workers went out on strike at an estimated 150 fast food restaurants nationwide. The workers want wages raised to $15 an hour . They point out that it’s not just kids working at fast food chains nowadays;  the economy has forced many adults including parents with families to take jobs in the fast food industry. Many are struggling at minimum wage jobs.

In some places, striking workers engaged in civil disobedience, from New York to San Diego. Locally, workers in City Heights staged a march from McDonalds to Burger King and Jack in the Box outlets.  Several staged a sit-in on the University Bridge over I-15 to draw attention of  motorists, and some protesters were arrested, KPBS reports.

Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, formerly a leader with the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council, says, “Profits are boundless right now for these big corporations and yet, the rank and file workers, the people who are on the streets, have to rely on public services and we as taxpayers are funding that. So we’re really subsidizing these big corporations and it’s time that all of us get together and say, that’s just not okay.”

A protest in New York City drew over 400 people, shutting down 42nd Street near a McDonalds, national media outlets report, with other demonstrations in cities nationwide.

But the National Council of Chain Restaurants, which represents fast food businesses, criticized the union tactics.  While noting that unions commonly stage events to draw media attention, the Council’s executive director Rob Green issued a statement which says that “encouraging activities that put both restaurant workers and their customers in danger of physical harm is not only irresponsible, it’s disturbing.”  He adds, “Unions are calling it `civil disobedience’ when in reality, this choreographed activity is trespassing and it’s illegal.”

McDonald’s has issued a statement indicating it wants to see any minimum wage increase implemented over time so that the impact on businesses will be manageable.