Hundreds of fast food workers are expected to strike Tuesday in Detroit and Flint as part of the ÿFight for $15ÿ minimum wage and labor rights push.þþEmployees of chains including McDonald's, Burger King and Wendy's are expected to stop work to demand the right to a union, according to a media advisory from the Fight for $15 initiative.þþDetroit fast-food employees are called to gather at Woodward Avenue and Warren Park on Wayne State University's campus at 1 p.m., the advisory said. Then they'll march to a nearby McDonald's, said Brittany Williamson, a member of the Detroit chapter of Fight for $15 who has worked in the fast food industry for four years and helps recruit for the pro-union effort.þþÿWe really need a union,ÿ Williamson said. ÿIn Michigan, in politics, they forget what a union can do. They don't force them like we want them to. You want our support, we want our union.ÿþþRashida Tlaib, the former state representative who is running unopposed for former Rep. John Conyers' U.S. House seat, tweeted Monday her plans to attend; organizers also expect some Detroit City Council members who have backed efforts for a $15 minimum wage for workers in the city.þþDemocratic gubernatorial candidate Gretchen Whitmer will be at a similar event at 1831 Dort Highway in Flint; Flint Mayor Karen Weaver is also expected to appear at the event, which starts at 7 a.m., the advisory said.þþThe Detroit event and wider effort also call for union rights for service-industry employees at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, the mostly Ilitch family-operated ÿdowntown arena district,ÿ hospitals, and in home and child care.þþIn response to a request for comment, a McDonald's spokesman issued a statement, but did not directly address the strike: ÿOur commitment to the communities we serve includes providing opportunities for restaurant employees to succeed at McDonald's and beyond with world-class training and education programs ... These enhancements underscore McDonald's ... commitment to providing jobs that fit around the lives of restaurant employees so they may pursue their education and career ambitions.ÿþþThe Detroit strike will be followed by others Wednesday and Thursday in Milwaukee, Chicago and other cities.þþFight for $15 is a national effort that started in 2012 in New York City, according to its website. It advocates for $15 per hour wages and union rights, as well as safer work environments for ÿunderpaid workers everywhere.ÿ Its members aim to knock on 430,000 doors in Detroit, Flint, Saginaw and Pontiac before the November election to talk about workers' rights and encourage voting.þþLabor strife appears on the rise in Southeast Michigan, Crain's reported. On Sept. 17, nurses at the University of Michigan voted to authorize a three-day work stoppage to protest ÿongoing and continuous violations of their workplace rights.ÿ They announced Saturday morning they had reached a tentative agreement on a three-year contract.þþTwo days later, 98 percent of the 160 housekeepers, servers, cooks and door attendants represented by Detroit-based hospitality union Unite Here Local 24 voted in favor of a strike at the Westin Book Cadillac Detroit hotel. And more than 160 road projects in Michigan were halted for nearly four weeks after a union of heavy equipment operators stopped working.þþMcDonald's has recently seen large-scale walkouts by those protesting sexual harassment.þþThe food and drink service industry has low unionization rates: 1.4 percent, compared with the private sector total of 6.5 percent, according to 2017 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.þþBut fast food has been particularly resistant to unionization. This spring workers at a Burgerville chain location in Portland formed the first federally recognized fast-food labor union in the country, according to media reports.
Source: www.crainsdetroit.com
