As fast food workers strike and, now, commit civil disobedience, some observers are asking what's the point? McDonald's and Burger King aren't giving their workers a raise unless they're forced to, and they'll be doing everything they can to intimidate workers away from joining unions. But while workers will need to build a lot more power to get those things directly from their employers, Harold Meyerson points out that they've scored some
real successes already:
By highlighting the abysmal incomes of millions of hardworking Americans, it has prodded governments to phase in minimum-wage increases in a growing number of cities and states. California has raised its minimum to $10; Massachusetts, to $11; the District and its Maryland suburbs to $11.50. Seattle has hiked its minimum to $15, and San Francisco voters are expected to do the same at the polls in November. San Diego recently raised its standard to $11.50, and on Monday, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti proposed raising his city’s minimum to $13.25 — roughly the same level that New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D) are pushing for. Other legislation targeted at low-wage workers is being enacted, as well: Last week, the California legislature, with the backing of Gov. Jerry Brown (D), passed a bill mandating paid sick days for the state’s workers.
The fast-food workers’ campaign, then, may be viewed not simply as a unionization drive but also as the second act of a broader workers’ movement kicked off by the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations of 2011. Occupy never developed a strategic focus that went beyond occupying, but it nonetheless focused the nation’s attention on the widening chasm separating the 1 percent from everybody else. The fast-food campaign, similarly, has not produced — not yet, at least — anything resembling a union contract, but it has staged enough high-profile actions, with a compelling economic and moral message, to win real gains for workers, whether those workers stand to ever become union members or not.
Fast food workers haven't been the only spur to those minimum wage and sick leave wins, of course, but there's no question they've built momentum. Additionally, the National Labor Relations Board has said that McDonald's should be considered a
joint employer of workers in its franchise restaurants, making it responsible for working conditions, and workers have won some
major wage theft settlements.
These aren't ultimate victory; the striking workers are fighting for something more. But they're a sign that this isn't just a publicity battle. The stakes are real and progress is possible.