New York City fast food workers stage another, larger strike

by Laura Clawson

Strikers outside a New York City Burger King that was not able to open on April 4, 2013.

Fast food workers in New York City are following up their November action with another one-day strike, held on the anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination. The November strike involved about 200 workers across the city—a record—and today’s is expected to be larger.”We’ll have double the number of strikers, four or five hundred workers on strike, and double the locations too,” Jonathan Westin, executive director of New York Communities for Change, one of the groups organizing the Fast Food Forward campaign, told Sarah Jaffe. “We will have several stores where it will not just be minority strikes like it was last time, we will have the majority of workers at several stores out on strikes, making it hard for them to do business on this day.” That prediction has held true at at least one restaurant:

This Burger King was supposed to open at 6am. All the workers are striking. It’s still closed. #fastfoodfwd http://t.co/…
— @petenychange via Twitter for BlackBerry®

Workers, many making the minimum wage of $7.25 and few making more than $9.00, are fighting for a wage of $15.00. One worker, who hasn’t gotten a raise above minimum wage in four years of work, told Steven Greenhouse:

“I’m behind on paying my cable and Con Ed bills,” said Ms. Verges, whose Burger King is at 141st Street and Broadway. “I don’t think $15 an hour is asking too much. I do it all. I do three or four jobs. I take orders, I make the orders. I work the cash register. I say, ‘Have a good day.’ I do the inventory. I take out the trash. I get down and scrub the floor. I don’t think $7.25 is nearly enough.”

Josh Eidelson spoke to KFC worker Joe Barrera:

Barrera, who’s paid the $7.25 minimum wage, said that a decent raise would allow him to stop skipping meals and start pursuing college. “Maybe I could afford to have a girlfriend, take her out on a date …” he added. “All of that money goes right now to just surviving.”

Some workers reported retaliation, including firing, after the November strike, but community groups, clergy, and politicians joined the workers to protest, getting a worker fired from Wendy’s for striking quickly reinstated. Most retaliation the workers face is more subtle than immediate firing, but clearly this campaign has only gained steam since it became public in November.

Striking workers, allies and supporters, and a healthy group of reporters formed the crowd outside of a midtown Manhattan Wendy’s restaurant Thursday at lunchtime, as hundreds of workers at dozens of New York City fast food restaurants went on strike. CNN and Telemundo were among the media outlets represented, suggesting that this strike, the larger follow-up to November’s historic action involving 200 workers, is being taken seriously as news. And if the fast food chains being targeted by the strikes don’t take it seriously, well, one of the workers present on this chilly spring day put it this way: “If we’re out here in this weather, we’ll definitely be out here when it’s nice and sunny in the summertime.”

Several of the workers formed a circle, leading each other in spirited chants of “We want change and we don’t mean pennies” and “We can’t survive on $7.25″—the minimum wage, and the wage many of them are paid even after years of experience. They were joined by supporters from other unions and the community. And the workers rallying at this location are part of a broader movement. Organizers say 400 workers at 70 restaurants are likely to have joined the strike by the end of the day, and Twitter is filled with reports from several midday rallies:

Roslynn, a 3-year Domino’s veteran, has never had a raise, and had her hours cut after signing the petition. http://t.co/…
— @macfathom via Twitter for iPhone

Just spoke w 21 year old Naquasia Legrand, who said that its difficult to even afford bread and milk on $7.25/hr. #fastfoodfwd
— @mollyknefel via Twitter for Android

Some workers did face retaliation after the last strike, and anticipate it this time as well. But plans are being made to support them as they return to work Friday:

Antonio Reynoso, running for council in Wmsburg/Bushwick, adopted a Dominos in his dist. & will walk workers back tomorrow. #fastfoodfwd
— @sarahljaffe via Twitter for Android

Many of New York’s fast food workers stand to get a raise when the state minimum wage rises to $9.00. But $9.00 isn’t enough to live on in New York City, especially not at the part-time hours many of the workers are limited to by their bosses. Workers will have reason to keep fighting—and the workers joining together on strike seem fired up and ready to carry on.

Laura Clawson reports on labor and politics for Daily Kos, where these reports originally appeared.