{"id":17821,"date":"2013-05-15T06:25:45","date_gmt":"2013-05-15T10:25:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theredphoenixapl.org\/?p=17821"},"modified":"2013-05-15T06:25:45","modified_gmt":"2013-05-15T10:25:45","slug":"fast-food-strikes-hitting-fifth-city-milwaukee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/2013\/05\/fast-food-strikes-hitting-fifth-city-milwaukee\/","title":{"rendered":"Fast Food Strikes Hitting Fifth City: Milwaukee"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"(Credit:<\/a>
(Credit: RaiseUpMKE.org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

by Josh Eidelson<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Two updates, including the filing of Unfair Labor Practice charges yesterday against companies, appear below.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Hundreds of Milwaukee workers plan to walk off the job starting at 6 Central Time this morning, launching the nation\u2019s fifth fast food workers\u2019 strike in six weeks. Today\u2019s work stoppage follows strikes in St. Louis and Detroit<\/span>\u00a0last week<\/span><\/a><\/span>, and in New York and Chicago last month. In each case, workers are demanding a raise to $15 per hour, and the right to form a union without intimidation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so amped up and ready,\u201d Milwaukee McDonald\u2019s employee Stephanie Sanders told\u00a0The Nation<\/em>\u00a0last night. Sanders, a 33-year-old who recently returning to working at McDonald\u2019s following a stretch in retail, said that she would be striking \u201cbasically to help my generation out, and the next generation to follow.\u201d Along with low wages and the lack of job security, Sanders said she wanted to do something about punitive management: \u201cJust because you have on a blue shirt doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re better than me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As<\/span>\u00a0I\u2019ve reported<\/span><\/a><\/span>, these recent work stoppages share several common characteristics: Each is a one-day strike by fast food workers, backed by a coalition of unions and community groups, targeting major companies throughout the industry and mobilizing a minority of the workforce in hopes of building broader support. While different local organizations have been involved in each city\u2019s actions, the Service Employees International Union has played a significant role in all of them.<\/span><\/p>\n

The campaign expects today\u2019s strikes to involve workers from fast food chains including McDonald\u2019s, Burger King and Taco Bell. Like Chicago\u2019s, the Milwaukee strike involves retail as well as fast food: workers from companies including TJ Maxx, Dollar Tree and Footaction plan to strike. Both industries are increasingly prevalent in\u2014and representative of\u2014the US economy, and both are overwhelmingly non-union.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jennifer Epps-Addison, the economic justice director for Citizen Action of Wisconsin, said that a victory for the Raise Up MKE campaign would have broad implications for Milwaukee: \u201cWe know that if we were to raise the wages of those workers, it would mean not only economic security for their families, but economic security for a city that\u2019s been devastated by de-industrialization, devastated by a jobless rate for African-American men of over 55 percent.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Reached for comment during last Friday\u2019s strike in Detroit, a McDonald\u2019s spokesperson sent a statement touting \u201ccompetitive wages\u201d \u201caccess to flexible schedules and quality, affordable benefits\u201d and \u201ctraining and professional development opportunities\u201d for McDonald\u2019s workers. \u201cWe value and respect all the employees who work at McDonald\u2019s restaurants,\u201d said the statement. The company did not respond to a follow-up inquiry regarding the strikers\u2019 demands, or whether they could face punishment for walking off the job.<\/span><\/p>\n

The spread of the fast food strikes, and of strikes by non-union workers in the Walmart supply chain, comes amid a multi-decade decline in US strikes, fueled in part by legal and economic changes that have made them more risky and less effective. According to the campaigns, recent fast food strikers have so far generally not been punished for it, a result that some activists chalk up to community pressure and media scrutiny rather than to legal protection. Sanders said that, while she initially worried that management would retaliate against her if she struck, organizers \u201ctold me that we have the legal right to at least take one day\u201d over their grievances.<\/span><\/p>\n

How great is the risk? Under US law, it\u2019s generally illegal to \u201cfire\u201d workers for going on strike, but legal to \u201cpermanently replace\u201d them\u2014effectively terminating them by refusing to let them come back to work following the strike. Prior to striking, fast food workers in other cities have filed \u201cUnfair Labor Practice\u201d charges with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging law-breaking by management, which potentially protects them from being \u201cpermanently replaced.\u201d Epps-Addison said last night that such charges so far had not been filed in Milwaukee\u00a0(see update below)<\/em>. But the one-day duration of the strikes does reduce the risk: Interviewed last October, former NLRB Chair Wilma Liebman said that a company generally would not have legal grounds to \u201cpermanently replace\u201d strikers who had already pledged to return to work the next day.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, pro-labor activists and academics have long argued that the lengthy process for pursuing claims of retaliation, and the limited penalties available, make the law a very weak deterrent against union-busting. Unions have recently accused Republicans who blocked Obama NLRB appointees, and judges who threw out NLRB actions, of further compromising labor law enforcement. (On a Tuesday media call, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka called the DC Circuit \u201ca circuit court gone wild.\u201d)<\/span><\/p>\n

When a New York City Wendy\u2019s worker was initially denied the chance to return to work following the first of the fast food strikes, rather than filing charges with the government, local, political and religious leaders occupied and picketed the store until management relented and returned her to work. Epps-Addison said that she and other Milwaukee activists are similarly ready to take direct action if any companies crack down on strikers: \u201cI\u2019ve committed myself to going to that store, and sitting down in that store, and refusing to leave until the workers are protected.\u201d Sanders predicted that McDonald\u2019s would not retaliate, because \u201cI don\u2019t think they want the repercussions of what may happen\u201d if they did.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sanders said that her own commitment to the fight was deepened last month, when she traveled to Chicago to support that city\u2019s strike. \u201cIt was awesome,\u201d she told\u00a0The Nation<\/em>. \u201cIt was just like everybody coming together united as one\u2026. And that\u2019s what really put me in the \u2018Yes, I will do it\u2019 mode\u2026. It was just so wonderful.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Update\u00a0<\/strong>(9:50\u00a0am\u00a0EST Wednesday): In a follow-up message Wednesday morning, the campaign told\u00a0The Nation<\/em>\u00a0that a slew of Unfair Labor Practice charges were filed with the National Labor Relations Board yesterday alleging violations of labor law by management.<\/span><\/p>\n

Update\u00a0<\/strong>(1\u00a0pm\u00a0EST Wednesday): According to the campaign, close to 200 workers are expected to strike by the end of today. Strikers and supporters will converge for a rally at 5\u00a0pm\u00a0Central Time this evening.<\/span><\/p>\n

Burger King declined a request for comment on today\u2019s strike. McDonald\u2019s, Taco Bell, TJ Maxx, Dollar Tree, and Footaction did not immediately respond to inquiries this morning.<\/span><\/p>\n

In an e-mailed statement, Old Country Buffet employee Javon Walker said, \u201cJobs that pay fifteen dollars an hour can save lives in Milwaukee. Too many people\u2014youth especially\u2014turn to crime because they don\u2019t make enough to make ends meet. Good paying jobs will change lives in this city for the better.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Fuente<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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