Unions are making a comeback and have been driven by the low wage fast food workers, the ones who suddenly became essential workers during the pandemic. They recognized their worth and began the fight for $15-an-hour wages. It looks like with the new California fast food law, they could be looking at $22 an hour and a chance to unionize the entire fast food industry.
The next stop would be vacations, healthcare and pensions.
If this happens in California, the next states to follow would be Florida, Texas, New York, and Idaho. In California, there are a half million fast food workers. This law targets bonafide abuses, but also furthers union goals of collective bargaining with the entire industry instead of trying to organize fast food restaurants one at a time.
Workers are now thinking about what is best for them and their families, and are willing to fight for them adjoining or forming unions is the best way to go. The more workers that join unions will join because people tend to follow the path of those who lead the way, and everyone likes to be on the winning team.
California unions now need to go out into the counties with the largest cities, but have lost the north and east sides of the state to the nonunion people.
Now is the time for the AFL/CIO to work together with the fast food workers, that include Starbucks and Amazon to unionize.
When people are hungry they turn to the fast food for a quick bite or drink so if you’re dependent on that convenience, you should be willing to pay for it. The costs should skyrocket unless the corporations continue their greedy reign of cheap wages for strenuous work.
Yes, they are coming for us. Workers need to have one another’s backs because no one else will. Neither the broader labor movement nor the Democratic party are prepared to meet the urgency of this moment. So it’s going to fall upon the rest of us to mount a real resistance against Trump’s authoritarian takeover. We’re going to have to get our hands dirty. I don’t care if you have a good, well-paying union job and you are in the middle class now—if you see a worker being dragged out of his workplace regardless of how skilled the job and potentially taken to another country, you should be ready to be there for that worker. When I.C.E. shows up, gather around and shame them into leaving. It has worked in other places. America is sleep walking into authoritarianism, and if there’s anyone out there who is a member of a labor union that is safe—at this point— and doesn’t think this applies to them. Understand that they just haven’t gotten to you yet. They’re coming for all of us. There are ...
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