"Fight for 15" Protests Rallies Held across the City Calling for Higher Wages & Better Benefits

Lee Edwards | As of Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Workers Organizing Committee of Chicago members rallied last Thursday in front of national retail and food chains demanding that their current minimum wages be increased to a “living” wage of $15 per hour as well as the right to form a union without retaliation.
Workers Organizing Committee of Chicago members rallied last Thursday in front of national retail and food chains demanding that their current minimum wages be increased to a “living” wage of $15 per hour as well as the right to form a union without retaliation. Photo by Lee Edwards.

As part of the Workers Organizing Committee of Chicago's (WOCC)"Fight for 15" campaign, several rallies were held last Thursday across the city of Chicago, mostly in front of national retail and food chains including McDonald’s, Sears and Family Dollar where employees of the establishments demanded that their current minimum wages be increased to a “living” wage of $15 per hour as well as the right to form a union without retaliation.

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Photo by: Lee Edwards

"We Are Worth More" was one of the chants protesters during the Workers Organizing Committee of Chicago's (WOCC) "Fight for 15" campaign held last Thursday across the city of Chicago, mostly in front national retail and food chains including McDonald’s, Sears, and Family Dollar.

Last week's demonstration was the fourth one held this year and it was the first time WOCC held rallies away from the Chicago's downtown area. Several other cities across the country held rallies as well. Previous rallies were held on April 4, August 1, and August 29.

"Fight for 15" protests were organized primarily by Workers Organizing Committee of Chicago (WOCC).

The WOCC is comprised primarily of Chicago’s fast food and retail workers, mostly adults with families, and according to their website, those who support WOCC ,are fighting for the just compensation and dignified treatment that all hardworking Americans deserve. The organization demands what they describe as a fair wage of $15 an hour and the right unionize in order to support families, strengthen Chicago’s economy, reduce crime, and improve area neighborhoods.

“These are multi-billion dollar corporations,” said Communications Director with Workers Organizing Committee of Chicago Deivid Rojas. “The fast food industry made about 200 billion dollars last year, the retail industry made about 4.7 trillion. These are industries that are making a lot of money but don’t want to give their workers a lot of money. We feel that they can pay the workers they have now $15.”

We’ve always from the beginning received support from various labor organizations, community organizations, religious organizations and they’re part of a coalition that believes in what we’re doing.”

Community organization Action Now was one of a coalition of organizations that rallied with the WOCC during last week.

“We’re involved [in the strike] because we have a campaign to raise the minimum wage,” said Action Now Director of Communications Aileen Kelleher. “These fast food workers are working towards better pay and working conditions and that benefits our members. We want the people in our community to have better jobs so they can spend money in the community and revitalize them. When someone is supporting workers’ rights we are usually out there with them.”

Other community organizations that stood with WOCC during the "Fight for 15" rallies which included Action Now, Albany Park Neighborhood Council, SJU Local 1, SU Health Care Illinois and Workers United.

The WOCC encouraged participants to inform their employers beforehand, using the National Labor Relations Act for employment protection. The National Labor Relations Act states in its’ rights of employees section that:

National Labor Relations Act

Sec. 7. [§ 157.] Employees shall have the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection, and shall also have the right to refrain from any or all of such activities except to the extent that such right may be affected by an agreement requiring membership in a labor organization as a condition of employment as authorized in section 8(a)(3) [section 158(a)(3) of this title].

The Chicago Citizen Newspaper contacted McDonald’s, Family Dollar and Sears for comment about the rallies and wage compensation and received the following responses:

“McDonald’s and our owner-operators are committed to providing our employees with opportunities to succeed,” said McDonald’s spokeswoman Lisa McComb. “We offer employees advancement opportunities, competitive pay and benefits. And we invest in training and professional development that helps them learn practical and transferable business skills. We also respect the right to voice an opinion. To right-size the headlines, however, the events taking place are not strikes. Outside groups traveled to McDonald’s and other outlets to stage rallies and only a handful of the approximately 700.000 people who work for McDonald’s in the U.S. participated. Our restaurants remained open thanks to our dedicated employees serving our customers.”

“Family Dollar strives to be a compelling place to work for our Team Members,” said Family Dollar Communication Director Josh Braverman. “To that end, our most recent data shows that our average wage for our hourly Team Members is 20% above the federal minimum wage.   In addition to providing competitive wages, we are proud of offering Team Members a career path supported by our aggressive new store opening program and evident through our 80% internal promotion rate in our stores.”

“Sears is focused on performance-based incentive opportunities for our commission-based associates,” said Sears Corporate Communication Director Howard Riefs. “We also have several programs that provide extra earnings opportunities for non-commission hourly associates. In addition, we are committed to promoting hourly associates and frequently do so as another means of recognizing and rewarding hourly associates”.

For more information about Fight for 15 visit http://fightfor15.wordpress.com/.

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