Fight for $15 goes global: Workers set to launch worldwide protest

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/4/13/laborers-set-to-launch-worldwide-protest-for-a-living-wage.html

Campaign launched by US fast-food workers has crossed national and commercial lines

April 14, 2015 8:30AM ET
by Ned Resnikoff @resnikoff

On Wednesday morning, the fast-food labor campaign known as Fight for $15 will stage what organizers say will be its largest ever protest — spanning 40 countries, including actions in 200 U.S. cities. In addition to fast-food restaurant employees, workers from a number of other industries are expected to participate and, in many cases, walk off the job.

The other participants will include airport service and retail workers as well as adjunct professors. Activists from outside of labor circles have also said they will join in on the protests, including the racial justice group #BlackLivesMatter and the environmental advocacy campaign 350.org.

The fast-food workers’ campaign launched in November 2012, when roughly 200 workers in New York City went on strike and issued what became the movement’s two signature demands: An hourly wage of at least $15 and the right to form a union. The campaign quickly spread to other cities, resulting in a series of day-long labor actions centered on those two objectives.

In some of the more recent protests, the action has spilled over both national and commercial boundaries. On May 2014, fast-food workers in 150 U.S. cities walked off the job as supporters in 33 other countries held solidarity rallies. The most recent nationwide labor action, in December 2014, included work stoppages initiated by low-wage workers outside the fast-food industry: home health care workers, airport service employees, and others.

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