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Issue: 1268 Date: 12/11/2014
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St. Louis Fast Food Workers Continue Call For $15 An Hour
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| Fast food workers and their supporters pause in front of the Gateway Arch during a march for $15 an hour on Thursday, December 4, 2014. |
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Fast food workers in St. Louis continued their call for an increase in pay Thursday with demonstrations at a Hardee's, a Wendy's and a Chipotle followed by a march around downtown St. Louis.
The actions were part of a national call for $15 an hour minimum wage and the right to form a union, held on the second anniversary of a similar demonstration in New York.
St. Louis workers began organizing not long after, first under the slogan "St. Louis Can't Survive on 7.35" and then as part a campaign called "Show Me 15."
In other parts of the country there have been substantial leaps in the minimum wage, but so far the only local increases in pay have come from a few individual business owners.
But despite the lack of substantive change here in St. Louis, law professor Marion Crain is impressed with the growth of the national effort to increase pay for fast food workers, known as "Fight for 15."
Crain teaches labor and employment law at Washington University and has been following the action both in New York and St. Louis.
"It has continued to grow and gain momentum. I was certainly surprised or impressed when it started to spread beyond the fast food industry into the retail sector, domestic worker organizing, etcetera," Crain said.
"It's had very strong support from the Service Employees International Union, and that's undoubtedly part of why it's spread across to other sectors. That alone sort of sets it apart from some of the other labor movement efforts we've seen in the last 30 years or so," she added.
Missouri's current minimum wage is $7.50, and it will increase to $7.65 in January. But that falls far short of the $15 an hour activists would like to see.
Martin Rafanan with Missouri Jobs with Justice believes the demonstrations in St. Louis have helped increase public awareness about how difficult it is to live on Missouri's minimum wage. He says his organization will continue to be involved and when they believe the public is ready, they will push for an initiative to substantially increase the minimum wage.
"It's our hope that in a number of ways the cards will line up well for moving forward," Rafanan said. "I think low-wage workers will be fighting for this. There will be more and more conversation around how we can move the minimum wage to an appropriate place, and I think the public will be ready to make that choice in the very near future."
About 150 people circled the sidewalks of downtown St. Louis Thursday afternoon in the most recent demonstration.
Carlos Robinson skipped work at Burger King to be part of the crowd. He said his paycheck comes out to about $340 every two weeks, and he can't pay for everything he and his newborn daughter need.
"My rent (is ) $700 by itself. My electric bill $100. Milk is $18 a can for my daughter. So it's a struggle for me," Robinson said, adding that he also wants to be part of a union so that doesn't have to worry about being fired without reason and can get his work hours increased. He said that Burger King limits the number of hours he can work each week to 28.
According to Crain, unionization is the best chance low-wage workers have of increasing their take-home pay long term.
Opponents of raising the minimum wage say it would force employers to raise prices and let some workers go. Supporters argue that increasing wages would lessen the government's burden by decreasing the need for food stamps and other forms of assistance while helping businesses retain workers for longer periods of time.
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