Dozens of fast-food protesters arrested while striking against low wages

Protesters in more than 100 US cities conduct sit-ins and marches outside restaurants to call for a $15 minimum wage

Fast-food protests continue across US – live updates

theguardian.com, Dominic Rushe and Lauren Gambino in New York, 4 September 2014

Protesters demanding higher wages and unionization for fast food workers march
on Thursday in New York. Photograph: Andrew Burton/Getty Images

Police arrested dozens of people on Thursday during a series of strikes across the US over low wages at fast-food companies including McDonald’s, Burger King and KFC.

Protesters in more than 100 cities including Chicago, New York and Detroit conducted sit-ins and marches outside fast-food restaurants calling for a $15 minimum wage and better benefits for workers. Many fast-food jobs pay just more than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.

By lunchtime unconfirmed reports said police had arrested 43 people in Detroit, 19 in New York City, 23 in Chicago, 10 in Little Rock, Arkansas, and 10 in Las Vegas. Protests were just starting in California and organisers expected hundreds would be arrested by the end of the day.

Thursday’s strikes were the seventh in a series that began as a local protest in New York two years ago. Each strike has been progressively bigger and organisers credit the movement with focussing the debate on low wage workers and reinvigorating president Barack Obama’s attempts to increase the federal minimum wage.

The latest protests mark a departure from previous efforts with protesters, many of whom were transported to the event by union backers, deliberately getting themselves arrested. So far there have been no reports of injuries.

A worker is detained by police during a protest outside a McDonald’s
restaurant in Philadelphia. Photograph: Matt Rourke/AP

Despite strong opposition from Republicans and business lobby groups, there have been some significant moves to raise wages. Seattle recently increased its minimum wage to $15 and there are proposals of a rise to $13 in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

Jeanina Jenkins, a McDonald’s worker from St Louis, Missouri, told the Guardian that $15 an hour would change her life. Jenkins, 21, lives at home with her mother and earns $7.97 an hour. “If I made $15 an hour I’d go back to university and study nursing,” she said.

The latest strike is being backed by the Service Employees International Union, (SEIU) which represents about 2 million workers across the US, mainly in healthcare, public services and property services including janitors and security officers.

The union has been moving to unionise more fast-food workers, but at the moment the process can only be conducted piecemeal, because workers are technically employed by individual franchise-holders, not the bigger chains.

But SEIU won a major victory last month when the National Labor Relations Board ruled that McDonald’s could be held jointly liable for employment and wage violations by its franchise operators. The move, which is being heavily contested, could force fast food firms to negotiate on wages and allow SEIU to unionise restaurants on a larger scale.

Police arrest demonstrators who were protesting for an increase in wages
in Chicago, Illinois. Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Arun Ivatury, campaign strategist for National Employment Law Project, said: “We talk a lot about responsibility in this country but corporations have to take responsibility too. I am confident that we are now at a moment of change.”

The National Restaurant Association, the largest trade body representing the industry, dismissed the strike actions as a PR stunt, saying it was a “multi-million dollar campaign” funded by unions. “The activities have proven to be orchestrated union PR events where the vast majority of participants are activists and paid demonstrators. This is nothing more than labor groups’ self-interested attempts to boost their dwindling membership by targeting restaurant employees,” the NRA said in a statement.

Obama has been pushing for an increase in the federal minimum wage to $10.10 but has faced stiff opposition from Republican opponents and business lobby groups who argue a wage hike would kill job creation.

Speaking at a Labor Day rally in Milwaukee on Monday, Obama said: “If I were busting my butt in the service industry and wanted an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work, I’d join a union ... I’d want a union looking out for me and if I cared about these things I’d also want more Democrats looking out for me.”

Related Article:

McDonald's Faces 'Millennial' Challenge