The next wave of what we used to call fast food strikes will hit on April 15—suitable for a movement that's expanded to fit the much broader name Fight for $15. Fast food cooks and cashiers
will be striking in 200 cities, according to organizers. But they will be far from alone, as the movement has kept expanding to include workers in other low-wage industries.
The April 15 Fight for $15 will include retail workers, home care workers, child care workers, airport workers, and adjunct college professors, all of whom have low wages in common. For instance:
Child care workers in the U.S. earn median pay of $9.38 per hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is comparable with the earnings of food preparation workers—$9.28 per hour—and retail sales employees—$10.29 per hour—and is especially measly when weighed against child care workers’ role in early childhood education.
The workers will be joined and supported by
students at colleges and universities across the country, many of whom may themselves wind up in low-wage industries, and not just because they don't get the jobs they trained for and wind up working in fast food or retail while looking for something better:
The share of Head Start teachers with an associate or bachelor’s degree grew by 61%; for assistant teachers, it increased by 24% between 1997 and 2013.
Similarly,
adjunct college professors are paid around $3,000 per course, with few receiving health or retirement benefits. Low wages, in short, are a problem across the economy, and the fight for $15 isn't about charity for some disadvantaged other, it's about justice and opportunity for all of us.