“Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour is among the most powerful tools to lift up Black and Brown workers,” she said.
The striking protesters work at many of the country’s most popular chains, including McDonald’s, Taco Bell and Burger King.
McDonald’s cook Rita Blalock, 54, of Raleigh, North Carolina, was one of dozens of fast-food employees participating in a car caravan protest outside a McDonald’s restaurant in the nearby city of Durham on Friday.
Blalock said her employer cut her hours back in March when COVID-19-related lockdowns caused many fast-food chains to lose business. Since then, Blalock, who says she makes $10 an hour, has been struggling to pay her bills. She said McDonald’s could improve her situation by raising their minimum wage nationally and granting workers like her guaranteed benefits, including medical insurance and paid sick leave.
“I couldn’t pay rent, couldn’t eat a lot of times,” she told CNN Business. “If you can’t go to work but so many hours, you don’t have enough to cover what you need to cover in the first place.”
McDonald’s said it unequivocally supports the need for racial equality and social justice and that Friday’s strike doesn’t reflect how it has protected and provided employment to more than 800,000 people during the pandemic. The company stopped lobbying against increases to the federal minimum wage in 2019, and says elected officials have a responsibility to debate, change and set the standards.
Credit: Source link
.jpg)
