by Bruce Ewen - July 23, 2015
I attended another solidarity protest this morning at the McDonald's in Redford Township on Telegraph Road. About 100 people started the protest, demanding $15 and full time for all workers, by entering the store and filling it up for about 20 minutes until the Police arrived and asked us to vacate.
We went outside and picketed on the sidewalk, listening to the solidarity of motorists' horns and our own voices, bullhorns and drums.
The timing was set to coincide with the New York State's Wage Board's decision yesterday recommending a minimum wage of $15 for all employees in the state.
That is my home state. Alright, New York!
The crowd protesting was rainbow, although the majority were African-American, those most strongly impacted by exploitative employment in fast food in the Detroit area.
This movement nationwide has expanded from the demand for $15 per hour, full time jobs and the right to unionize for fast food workers, to stand for all workers. That demand pushes up the bottom, and as the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King reminded us all, pushing up the bottom pushes everyone else up with them.
A number of the protesters carried signs for home care employees.
The significance of this movement cannot be underestimated. It will impact all workers that are underemployed by raising the consciousness throughout this country of the connection between low wage and part time employment and the tremendous inequality of income and wealth in this U.S.
It is vital that members of AFT Local 2000, UAW and PA&A employees at WCCCD find ways to support this movement and show their solidarity (and connection) to the fight for economic justice - a fight that we must forge even more persistently with our own employer.
All three of our unions have a high percentage of part time employees with limited or no benefits. Linking ourselves into this national struggle for a living wage for all, and with part time instructors at other colleges and universities, will benefit all of us.
A people united will never be defeated. This includes WCCCFT. Both part time and full time instructors need to understand that united means having to pay union dues to support a decent contract and the fight to support our students, rising above our petty differences and casting an eye on the prize - the fight for economic justice (and quality, affordable education) for all.