America
US workers protest for $15 per hour minimum wage
Washington, April 16
Thousands of fast-food workers joined other professionals at protests in many US cities to demand a minimum hourly wage of $15.
The
Fight for 15 movement organised strikes and protests on Wednesday in
New York, Miami, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and elsewhere, Efe news
agency reported.
The federal minimum wage in the US is currently $7.25 per hour.
Some states have legislated higher rates, but even the most generous among them still legislate a rate well under $10.
Richard
Trumka, president of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of
Industrial Organizations, said in Washington that the protests would
advance the case for a minimum $15 per hour.
Protests began early
Wednesday in Chicago where fast food workers gathered in front of a
McDonald's restaurant in the southern part of the city with placards and
a 4.8-metre tall statue called "Dignity".
Students, part-time
university professors and school teachers, guards, cleaning staff,
airport ramp agents and industrial cleaning company staff joined the
protest.
In New York, teaching, child care, housing and airport
staff gathered at events throughout the city with support from
politicians including New York City Council Speaker Melissa
Mark-Viverito.
US Senator Charles Schumer extended support to the demonstrators on the Fight for 15 webpage.
In
Miami, close to 300 people also protested the wage exploitation of
illegal immigrant workers at a demonstration organised by the Service
Employees International Union.
Thousands of protesters took to
the streets in Los Angeles where organisers said low salaries make many
workers at big fast food and retail chains such as Wal-Mart reliant on
subsidies just to make ends meet.
Multinational fast food chain
McDonald's, one of the main targets of protests, said in a statement
that it respected the protests and that it had recently decided to pay
its employees $1 an hour more than the minimum wage.
However, the
corporation added that 90 percent of its restaurants are franchises and
it has no power to commit franchise owners to its decision.
Meanwhile,
lobby group for franchisees, the International Franchise Association,
called the protests no more than a campaign by trade unions to increase
membership numbers and contributions.