Protesters Arrested in Fast-Food Fight Over Minimum Wage

Detroit police arrested about 30 demonstrators who were part of a nationwide walkout by fast-food workers seeking wage increases to $15 per hours. Strikers were also arrested in New York, Chicago, San Diego and other places as workers in 150 cities demonstrated. (Photo via Twitter)

_______________________

About a fourth of the 100 fast-food workers and other demonstrators who walked off their jobs in a strike for higher wages were arrested after briefly shutting down a Detroit street during the Thursday morning commute.

Their strike was part of a national “Fight for $15” campaign by the Service Workers International Union and other groups calling on fast-food chains to pay their workers at least $15 an hour. Protests were planned in about 150 cities nationwide, with disobedience part of the strategy to raise awareness of the effort, The Detroit News reports.

“I didn’t see any resistance or reaction by the people who were arrested,” Mya Hill, a protester from Lincoln Park, told the newspaper. “They were put into the back of police cars. I was proud of them for being so brave.”

In New York, about at least 19 people were arrested after protesters shut down part of 42nd Street by a flagship McDonald’s store in Times Square, NBC News reports. Demonstrators were also hauled off picket lines in Chicago, Atlanta and San Deigo and other cities.

Tell Us:

• Do you support the ”Fight for $15” campaign? What about an increase in the federal minimum wage? How do minimum wage increases affect your personal tipping policies?

Fast-food workers say they’re barely getting by on the average wage of $7.25 an hour – or about $15,000 annually if they work a 40-hour week.

In a statement Thursday, McDonald’s said boosting the minimum wage to $15 per hour would be especially harmful to small- and medium-sized businesses, “like the ones who own and operate the majority of our restaurants.” The chain said incremental increases would be manageable.

The protesters in Detroit included workers from McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, Subway, Taco Bell, KFC, Popeyes, Tim Hortons and Little Caesar, as well as local clergy and health-care workers who also support the “Fight for $15” campaign, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Carrying signs and shouting slogans, they marched through an east-side McDonald’s parking lot in the pre-dawn hours Thursday, causing backups in the drive-through lane and spilling into the street.

“I’m asking for a living wage, not a minimum wage. I have to put gas in my car. I don’t want to have to decide if I’m going to pay DTE or my rent.” – Detroit protester Mya Hill

The demonstrations snarled traffic during the morning commute along a stretch of road that’s already down to one lane due to road construction.

Police said between 25-30 protesters who refused to retreat to the sidewalk were arrested.

“They didn’t have to leave – they just had to get out of the roadway – and they refused …,” Detroit Assistant Police Chief Steve Dolunt told the Free Press. “As long as you’re peaceful, we’re good, but you can’t block the roadway.”

Detroit Police Sgt. Michael Woody told The Detroit News the demonstrators were cooperative when handcuffed, and were quickly transported away from the scene of the protest “to minimize the emotions of the crowd.”

The “Fight for $15” campaign, started in 2012, also includes a call for collective bargaining rights for workers – which the National Restaurant Association called an attempt by unions to “boost their dwindling membership,” according to a statement.

Hill, the mother of a 1½-year-old son who works two part-time jobs, told The Detroit News that she and other members of the working poor struggle to meet basic household necessities on low-wage jobs.

“I’m asking for a living wage, not a minimum wage,” she said “I have to put gas in my car. I don’t want to have to decide if I’m going to pay DTE or my rent.”

Hill and other low-wage workers will be getting a raise under action taken by the legislature Monday to increase minimum wage to $8.15 an hour immediately and incrementally increase it 25 percent to $9.25 an hour in 2018. After that, the state’s minimum wage will be automatically adjusted for inflation.

With the increase, Michigan boasts the ninth-highest minimum wage in the country. The state’s minimum wage hadn’t been raised in seven years.

Michigan is among 10 states that have increased minimum wages without waiting for Congress to take up a measure. Also on the list are Maryland, Hawaii, Connecticut, Vermont, Rhode Island, Delaware, West Virginia, Minnesota and Massachusetts.

Six other states – Arkansas, South Dakota, Alaska, New York, Illinois and California – ae considering legislation.

Democrats have tried three times in as many years to get Congress to increase the minimum wage, which has been $7.25 an hour for the past five years.President Barack Obama has proposed increasing the wage to $10.10 an hour.

Here are some excerpts from a Twitter feed of some of the action. Follow it with the hashtag #StrikeFastFood.

[<a href=”//storify.com/PatchMichigan/strikefastfood” target=”_blank”>View the story “#StrikeFastFood” on Storify</a>]