Last updated on September 25th, 2023 at 01:49 pm
Fast food workers in Detroit strike for fair pay.
Courtesy: Fight for $15
Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton has personally given her support to the nation’s largest strike of underpaid workers. Clinton told the workers that their advocacy is changing America.
According to the group Fight For $15 today’s strikes are the largest ever of fast food and other underpaid workers:
Fast-food workers will wage their biggest-ever strike Tuesday – one year from Election Day – with walkouts hitting a record 270 cities from Detroit to Denver. The strikes will culminate in protests in 500 cities, where fast-food, home care, child care, and other underpaid workers will amass outside city halls—local symbols of political power— to demand that elected leaders nationwide stand up for $15/hr and union rights.
The strikes and protests come as underpaid workers nationwide vow to take their Fight for $15 and union rights to the ballot box in 2016 to show candidates of all political stripes that the nearly 64 million Americans paid less than $15 are a voting bloc that can no longer be ignored.
In addition to the strikes and city hall protests, auto parts workers, farmworkers, grocery clerks, FedEx drivers, nursing home workers and others will show their support for the Fight for $15 at rallies planned for 1,000 cities across the country, sending a message to candidates that higher pay and union rights are urgent issues for our country that need to be addressed now. In Milwaukee, following the strikes and city hall protest, members of Fight for $15 WI will march on the Republican debate at the Milwaukee Theatre.
Hillary Clinton tweeted her support for the strikers:
Fast-food, home care, child care workers: Your advocacy is changing our country for the better. #Fightfor15 -H
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) November 10, 2015
Her opponent in the Democratic primary, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) will be speaking to the strikers at a rally in Washington, D.C. today.
Republicans have reacted to Clinton’s tweet and the strikers with their typical venom. Clinton has been called a communist across social media for standing with grossly underpaid workers who are demanding a living wage.
The issue of income inequality looms over the 2016 election. Strikes such as the one being carried out by fast food and home healthcare workers are gaining support because more Americans are sympathizing with the feeling that the economy is rigged for those at the top.
If ten percent of the 64 million underpaid workers organize and vote as a bloc, they have the power to swing a presidential election. If these workers get organize to elect pro-worker Democrats in critical Senate races, they could swing the Senate.
The workers have the potential for tremendous political power, and only beginning to scratch the surface with this strike.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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