This is great news. A livable minimum wage for fast food workers will put a lot more money in the local economy by preventing multi-nationals like Yum Brands from moving profits to off shore tax havens. I hope other Delaware fast food workers see this and decide, in time, to participate in this worthy effort.
Wilmington Fast-Food Workers To Join Nationwide Strike Thursday
Movement for $15 and a Union Without Retaliation or Unfair Labor Practices Reaches WilmingtonWilmington , DE– Fast-food workers in Wilmington are expected to walk off their jobs Thursday as part of the largest-ever strike to hit the $200 billion industry. Inspired by strikes earlier this summer in seven cities across the country, Wilmington workers will walk off their jobs for the first time, calling for $15 an hour and the right to form a union without retaliation or unfair labor practices.
Thursday’s strike will span 50 cities and every region of the continental United States.
The Delaware chapter of Americans for Democratic Action, a progressive advocacy group, is supporting striking workers as a local partner. Local clergy, elected officials, and community supporters will join fast-food workers on the strike lines and at rallies as the nationwide fight for higher wages hits Wilmington.
In Wilmington, there are 7,336 fast-food workers. The median wage is $8.59. An adult with one child needs to make $21.84 an hour working full time in the Wilmington area just to afford the basics, according to a model developed by a professor at MIT.
In addition to Wilmington, strikes will hit cities all over the country, including Boston, Chicago, Denver, Hartford, Houston, Los Angeles, Memphis, New York, Oakland Raleigh and Tampa.
The strikes follow walkouts by fast-food workers in seven cities earlier this summer and are the latest in an escalating series of walkouts by workers across the country. Federally-contracted workers in Washington have walked off their jobs; a growing number of Walmart workers have gone on strike; warehouse workers walked out; carwash workers have hit the picket lines; and, earlier this week, America’s port drivers parked their trucks.