Fight for $15 and the heroes in company uniforms
Filed under: Society and Economy, Unions
“What’s disgusting? Unionbusting! What’s outrageous? Poverty wages!”—a chant often heard at Fight for $15 actions
Sometimes heroes come dressed in company uniforms: perhaps MacDonald’s, or maybe Subway, Wendy’s, Mrs. Fields or those Whole Foods distinctive black aprons. That kind of hero was out in the streets of Chicago on July 31 and August 1. They had walked off their jobs to support the Fight For $15 campaign led by the Workers Organizing Committee of Chicago (WOCC).
WOCC is a new union in town. Currently with several hundred members and growing, it wants a $15 an hour wage for food and retail workers in Chicago. There are similar groups in other large American cities.
I had the privilege of picketing with WOCC at a Northside Chicago Whole Foods on July 31. I was with also WOCC on August 1 from early morning to early evening as WOCC strikers marched through the Chicago downtown, picketing a number of low wage workplaces and sharing their stories.
