Fast Food, Retail workers stage walkout in downtown Chicago

[downtown]

Workers at fast-food restaurants and retail stores in downtown Chicago are staging a walkout today in hopes of pressuring their bosses to pay them more money.

The action is part of the "Fight for 15" campaign, organized by the Service Employees International Union along with nonprofit groups, which seeks wages of at least $15 per hour for low-skilled workers working downtown. Many of those workers make the state's minimum wage of $8.25 per hour, or only slightly more, organizers said.

Around 7:30 a.m. today, as many as 35 workers marched outside Union Station and chanted union slogans. They wore red ponchos with white letters that read, "Fight for 15."

Organizers hope to tap into the frustration among workers who feel trapped in low-income jobs. Recently, fast-food restaurant workers in New York and Wal-Mart discount store employees in Dallas, Los Angeles and other cities staged similar actions.

Starting at 5 a.m. Wednesday, workers are scheduled to march with signs outside stores along Michigan Avenue and State Street, said Katelyn Johnson, executive director of Action Now Institute, a nonprofit organization that is driving the event.

A rally is planned for 4 p.m. at the St. James Cathedral near Huron and Rush streets.

"The McDonald's workers, the Wal-Mart workers, low-wage workers everywhere are tired of being at the bottom of every decision and not being able to support their families," Johnson said.

Among those participating will be Aimee Crawford, 56, who said she has worked for 14 months at a downtown Protein Bar restaurant for $8.75 an hour.

"I'm using my retirement funds and my savings to bridge the gap between what I bring home and what I need to survive," Crawford said.

Matt Matros, who founded the Protein Bar chain in 2009, said employees at his company control their opportunities for advancement.

Starting at $8.25 per hour, workers get raises at increments of 50 cents per hour by passing certain skills tests, such as knife safety or nutrition, he said.

Those tests can take an employee all the way to management, Matros said, noting that four general managers at the eight Protein Bar restaurants in Chicago and Washington D.C. started at the bottom. He said more than half of the chain's 300 employees have been with the company for more than a year.

"If you want a raise, there's a list of 10 tests you need to take in order for you to get your raise," he said. "It really leaves it up to the employee to really kind of control their own career."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-mag-mile-strike-advance-20130424,0,2460539.story

I have a few thoughts here...

1) I wonder if the $15 an hour rate is given as a negotiating point, rather than a final demand. Hiking everyone's wages by 7 bucks at once would probably put a fair amount of lunch spots out of business, but I can certainly see why these workers ought to make more than the IL min. wage, especially since rent prices within a reasonable commuting distance from the area are not cheap.

2) The system that the guy at Protein Bar explains seems pretty fair, and I wonder if workers should actually be striking more over their contract structures than their raw wages. One of the big problems with a low skill, low wage job like say, flipping burgers, is a lower transferability of skills, and low chances for advancement. Providing a clear, structured promotion schedule tied to specific goals, rather than just "eh, do a good job" seems like it would be a win win for everybody.

On the surface, this seems like a pretty darn good case for unionization, as these workers would have a really hard time advocating and negotiating individually. What do you think? Is a walkout reasonable? Should fast food employees look to unionize? If not wages, what should they be asking for? Should the fast food places just fire everybody who participated?

 

[Patroklos]

Thy make exactly what they should for their replacable unskilled labor. Some will probably make $0.00 after today while others who make $0.00 now will will be making $8.25.

If they were skilled in some way and were being underpaid by market trends that's one thing. Nor are all food service employees unskilled, the ones who are paid more. Same wth retail, especially since many also get commission. I worked in both industries and was paid crqp because thats what my skills were worth. In retail when I got a non trivially replaced skill (photography development) I made more. Simple.

 

[Crezth]

These worthless bums should get back to work. Idle hands are the devil's tools.

 

[warpus]

Are they a part of a union that is able to negotiate for them? If not, they will not really accomplish much. What they should do is form some sort of a union for fast food/low skill type jobs in the area and go from there.

edit: I now see that they aren't part of a union. The next step is clear, then.

 

[Smellincoffee]

Thy make exactly what they should for their replacable unskilled labor. Some will probably make $0.00 after today while others who make $0.00 now will will be making $8.25.

If they were skilled in some way and were being underpaid by market trends that's one thing. Nor are all food service employees unskilled, the ones who are paid more. Same wth retail, especially since many also get commission. I worked in both industries and was paid crqp because thats what my skills were worth. In retail when I got a non trivially replaced skill (photography development) I made more. Simple.

Considering that we take "progress" to mean automating more to save labor, thereby turning skilled jobs into unskilled jobs that pay less and impoverishing the majority who, you know, have to work to live, at some point there will be a reckoning. You can't relegate the majority of the working class to below-subsistence wages, tell them to get off welfare and fend for themselves, and then act surprised when they START DOING IT by unionizing.

 

[Crezth]

Are they a part of a union that is able to negotiate for them? If not, they will not really accomplish much. What they should do is form some sort of a union for fast food/low skill type jobs in the area and go from there.

edit: I now see that they aren't part of a union. The next step is clear, then.

I'm sure Chicago has plenty of potential employees who would love to replace any mooks who thought of organizing.

 

[Defiant47]

Thy make exactly what they should for their replacable unskilled labor. Some will probably make $0.00 after today while others who make $0.00 now will will be making $8.25.

If they were skilled in some way and were being underpaid by market trends that's one thing. Nor are all food service employees unskilled, the ones who are paid more. Same wth retail, especially since many also get commission. I worked in both industries and was paid crqp because thats what my skills were worth. In retail when I got a non trivially replaced skill (photography development) I made more. Simple.

Where the hell did you make up the number that they "make what they should" being $8.25?? What, just because the minimum wage is $8.25, they deserve $8.25? If their work is so "unskilled" and so "replaceable", then what makes you think that they're not worth less than $8.25?

We're forcing employers to pay these low-value people a ridiculous $8.25. These people are so replaceable that they probably don't even deserve a wage enough to feed themselves. So why should we be subsidizing them unfairly? Wouldn't it be more appropriate to pay them what they're actually worth and simply let them die in the streets for being too many of them?

Where do we draw the line?

 

[Cutlass]

If the minimum wage had kept up with inflation, it would be about $22/hr now. That should be the least we would be willing to accept. But the reason that it is less than that is that these people simply don't have any real bargaining power.

 

[AlpsStranger]

at some point there will be a reckoning.

At some point there will be a few sharply worded Tweets and everyone will continue to bend over.

Should the fast food places just fire everybody who participated?

No idea about "should," but I bet they will.

 

[Azale]

Thy make exactly what they should for their replacable unskilled labor. Some will probably make $0.00 after today while others who make $0.00 now will will be making $8.25.

So where do the lines of "what their labor is worth to the company" cross with "what they need for a living wage"?


I think this first series of events can only be positive. They need to taste what organizing looks and feels like. I think there will be lots of setbacks to start with, maybe a small victory here or there, but you gotta start somewhere. Most of the jobs filled since the recession have been low wage, and a large percentage of those have been in retail/fast-food, so there is fertile ground I guess.

 

[AlpsStranger]

What's their bargaining chip though, Azale?

Plenty of other workers will stand in line to take their crappy jobs. With no bargaining chip they're SOL.

 

[JollyRoger]

If unskilled is only worth $8.25 (or less), then I suggest we are overpaying the military given recent performance.

 

[FriendlyFire]

$15 dollars an hour for unskilled labor ?, The minimum wage should be $2.13 like Wisconsin then let the free market do the rest.

 

[AlpsStranger]

There shouldn't be a minimum wage. If you're only worth $.25 an hour then pull yourself up by the bootstraps and learn to eat out of a dumpster.

 

[JollyRoger]

The workers should be paying the company for giving them shelter for the work shift and providing them a line item on the resume.

 

[warpus]

I'm sure Chicago has plenty of potential employees who would love to replace any mooks who thought of organizing.

Yep, and that's a problem.. but you've got to start somewhere.

The first union in Poland got started illegally, among violence, bloodshed, and the threat of a military intervention by a superpower.

If you want things to change, sometimes you've just got to fight for what you want.

 

[AlpsStranger]

If you want things to change, sometimes you've just got to fight for what you want.

Right. And we should fight with sticks and stones?

 

[warpus]

That's what Lech Walesa did... and he didn't even use sticks! or stones

Obviously this is a totally different situation, but people aren't always as helpless as it might appear. I fully support this walkout.

 

[sophie]

Considering how most retail/cashier workers in companies like Safeway make well under minimum wage after Union dues are paid I'd certainly hope these guys get a raise.

Seriously. Union dues put entry-level Safeway employees $75 in the hole before they even start working. Between limited hours and union dues I have a friend who's lucky if he even breaks $100 a pay period. Not to mention you get fired if you work another job on the side.

 

[amadeus]

[bah]