North Carolina fast-food workers plan strike, protest Tuesday in fight for $15 wage

by Kristy Kepley-StewardTuesday, July 20th 2021

FILE - Hardee's fast-food restaurant. (Photo credit: WLOS Staff)

MARION, N.C. (WLOS) — Fast-food workers in Marion are planning a strike and protest on Tuesday amid ongoing calls for a nationwide pay hike.

Organizers with Fight for $15 and a Union shared details on the strike, which is slated for 11:30 a.m. outside the Hardee’s at 3240 Highway 226 S. in Marion. North Carolina workers will also hold strike rallies in Charlotte and Durham.

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For the past few years, demands have been growing among cooks, cashiers and other employees for an increase to the federal minimum wage, which was last bumped up to $7.25 per hour in 2009.

"I’m out here to demand $15 an hour for every worker in the country. After decades of low paying jobs, I am finally making a living wage. I have 2 kids, so making $15 an hour is an absolute necessity to support them," said Nathan Ruggles, an Amazon driver from Candler, NC. "But it was a fight to get Amazon to pay $15 in the first place. If we wait for all these companies to pay a living wage out of the goodness of their hearts, we will wait forever. Congress must pass a $15 federal minimum wage."

Recently, there has been a nationwide shortage of people willing to work in the fast-food industry. Fight for $15 and a Union said bringing hourly pay to $15 would help remedy this ongoing issue.

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North Carolina’s legislature passed the state's minimum wage preemption law in 2016 as part of the controversial "bathroom bill." Though the portion of that law that enshrined discrimination against transgender people has been overturned, the minimum wage preemption provision is still in place today.

Nationally, workers in more than 15 cities will strike to demand Congress and restaurant companies like McDonald’s, Burger King and Wendy’s raise minimum pay to at least $15/hr.

"I stand with workers who are on strike for a $15 federal minimum wage, because they are fighting for all of America. Millions of workers have been stranded at $7.25/hour for twelve years, and we can't wait any longer," said Rev Barber II, Co-Chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, who will join the Durham workers' strikeline today. "There’s no such thing as racial equity when you don’t address the issue of economic justice. We cannot address racial equity if we do not address the minimum wage of $15."

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Additionally, tipped restaurant workers, who are paid a subminimum wage of $2.13/hr, will also hold protests from coast to coast, including in New York, Washington, D.C. and Chicago. Tipped workers have been excluded from increases in the federal minimum wage and the subminimum wage for tipped workers has been stuck at $2.13/hr since 1991.

Strikes are expected to also be held in areas such as Durham, N.C., Charlotte, N.C., Charleston S.C., Detroit, Mich., Flint, Mich., Houston, Texas, Milwaukee, Wisc., and St. Louis, Mo. Other protests are slated for various cities around the U.S.Companies in food service and in other sectors, such as Costco, Amazon, Starbucks and Target, have already raised starting pay to $15 an hour.

NORTH CAROLINA

Low-wage workers  strike, protest in Marion. The event is part of a national movement.
Jul 19, 2021



The strike and worker-led rally to demand Congress pass a $15 federal minimum wage will take place at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Hardee’s on 3240 N.C. 226 South in Marion.

This is the WNC chapter of NC Raise Up-Fight for $15 and a union.
SUBMITTED PHOTO


From Staff Reports

To protest 12 years without a penny increase in the $7.25 federal minimum wage, western North Carolina fast-food and other low wage workers will strike and protest in front of Hardee’s near I-40 in Marion on Tuesday.

North Carolina workers will also hold strike rallies in Charlotte and Durham. Nationally, workers in more than 15 cities will strike to demand Congress and restaurant companies like McDonald’s, Burger King and Wendy’s raise minimum pay to at least $15 an hour, according to a news release.

It is part of the national Fight for $15 movement.

The strike and worker-led rally to demand Congress pass a $15 federal minimum wage will take place at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Hardee’s on 3240 N.C. 226 South in Marion.

The federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 since July 24, 2009. “Even as cities, states and corporations across the country have raised wages to $15 an hour, millions of Black and brown workers, particularly in the South, have been left behind because of racist preemption laws that block local governments from boosting pay and the U.S. Senate’s failure to act on $15,” reads a statement from the news release sent by NC Raise Up, a branch of Fight for $15.

In addition, North Carolina’s General Assembly passed the state’s minimum wage preemption law in 2016 as part of the controversial HB2 or “bathroom bill.” Though the portion of that law that enshrined discrimination against transgender people has been overturned, the minimum wage preemption provision is still in place today, according to the news release.

“Making $9 an hour, it’s a pain in the butt because you don’t have enough to buy food sometimes,” said Scotty Manan, a McDonald’s worker from Marion. “Raising minimum wage would honestly help a lot of people. I see homeless people in my town who just can’t afford rent. I'm going on strike to demand a $15 minimum wage because it’s the right thing to do.”

“I’m out here to demand $15 an hour for every worker in the country,” said Nathan Ruggles, an Amazon driver from Candler. “After decades of low paying jobs, I am finally making a living wage. I have two kids, so making $15 an hour is an absolute necessity to support them. But it was a fight to get Amazon to pay $15 in the first place. If we wait for all these companies to pay a living wage out of the goodness of their hearts, we will wait forever. Congress must pass a $15 federal minimum wage.”

United in their demand for a $15 an hour minimum wage for all workers, tipped restaurant workers, who are paid a subminimum wage of $2.13 an hour, will also hold protests from coast to coast, including in New York, Washington, D.C. and Chicago. Tipped workers have been excluded from increases in the federal minimum wage for over half a century, and the subminimum wage for tipped workers has been stuck at $2.13 an hour since 1991, according to the news release.

Now, companies like McDonald’s are sounding the alarm about a nationwide shortage of individuals willing to work in fast food amid the lingering pandemic and longstanding issues in the industry, from wage theft to sexual harassment to violence on the job. Employees at companies like Burger King are quitting en masse – changing the marquee outside the store to read “WE ALL QUIT” – to systemic issues such as poor management, understaffing and overheating kitchens.

“Striking workers will offer a simple solution to employers struggling to hire and retain workers: pay $15 an hour,” reads the news release. “A $15 an hour minimum wage is also one of the most powerful tools available for combating racial wealth and income inequality. Increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour would boost the incomes of 32 million workers, including 59% of working families with incomes under the poverty line. Nearly one third of Black workers would receive a raise, and one out of four workers who would benefit is a Black or Latina woman. According to researchers from UC Berkeley, raising the minimum wage in the 1960s directly led to a 20 percent drop in income inequality for Black Americans.

North Carolina workers will also go on strike in Charlotte and Durham. Nationally, workers will strike in Charleston, S.C., Detroit, Flint, Mich., Houston, Milwaukee and St. Louis, with additional protest actions taking place across the country, including in Montgomery, Ala., Tulsa, Okla. and Norfolk, Va. Restaurant workers with One Fair Wage will protest in New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago and Nashua, N.H.

Fast-food workers will also call on McDonald’s, one of the largest and most powerful employers in the world, to immediately raise starting pay to at least $15 an hour. The burger giant recently announced that it netted nearly $5 billion in profits in 2020 and paid out nearly $4 billion in dividends to its shareholders.

In one viral TikTok, a McDonald’s customer rolled up to a drive-thru lane only to find a sign reading, “We are short-staffed. Please be patient with the staff that did show up. No one wants to work anymore.” Other McDonald’s stores are offering $1,000 signing bonuses or even new iPhones to try to attract new workers while ignoring the obvious solution: pay workers $15 an hour, according to the news release.

Already, companies including Costco, Amazon, Starbucks and Target have raised pay to $15 an hour, understanding that higher wages are good for workers and good for business. Meanwhile, McDonald’s has only extended promises of minimal pay raises to workers at corporate-owned and operated stores, which make up a mere 5% of McDonald’s locations nationwide.

Workers with the Fight for $15 and a Union have been demanding a raise since long before the pandemic as part of a movement of fast-food cooks and cashiers led largely by Black and brown workers. Since 200 fast-food workers walked off the job in New York City in 2012, the movement has won tens of billions in raises for tens of millions of workers, passing $15 minimum wage laws in 10 states and putting more than 43% of the country on the path to $15. In April, President Biden signed an executive order raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour for federal contractors and subcontractors, putting an additional 390,000 workers on the path to $15 an hour, according to the news release.