Protesters rally against ‘economic brutality’ by striking from low-wage jobs

Protesters in Durham joined a nationwide movement of low-wage workers walking off their jobs Monday, striking against a stagnating minimum wage and racism in the workplace.

Hundreds of people gathered in front of the downtown Durham McDonald’s, braving intense heat to bring attention to the plight of low-wage workers during the coronavirus pandemic. And across the nation, tens of thousands of workers were planning to walk off the job, The Washington Post reported.

In Durham, the protest was led by NC Raise Up and the Fight for $15 groups. The group viewed the rally as an extension of the protests that have sprung up in the wake of George Floyd’s killing, as many of the lowest-paid front-line workers are people of color.

“It’s not just about police brutality. It’s economic brutality as well,” said Jamila Allen, who works at the fast-food restaurant Freddy’s.

While a lot of workers have been able to shift their jobs online and work remotely during the pandemic, many low-wage workers who have been labeled “essential” cannot. A study from the Brookings Institution found that 48 million workers, or about 42% of the country’s workforce, were in essential occupations, and that they were more likely to be Black or Hispanic than the rest of the country’s workforce. They are also twice as likely as other workers to have a high school education or less, Brookings found.

At the McDonald’s in downtown, a Black Lives Matter flag hung in the window next to a sign advertising managerial positions starting at $15 a hour.

Allen said that the lowest positions should be starting at that wage — not just manager positions.

Paying workers below $15 an hour, Allen said, is not sustainable, and places a larger burden on Black workers.

‘Essential’ and minimum wage

A living wage calculator run by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology says that a living wage for a household of one worker with no children in the Durham-Chapel Hill metro area is $12.71 an hour. If one child is added to that household the wage would rise to $25.75 an hour.

Allen, who is 23 and Black, said most new employees make $8.25 an hour where she works, and workers did not get paid sick days.

Many of the speakers decried the fact that many corporations had made billions of dollars while paying their workers only $7.25 an hour, the minimum wage in North Carolina.

Those same workers, they said, are keeping the companies going during the coronavirus pandemic on that same wage.

Keenan Harton, pointing across the street to McDonald’s, said corporations aren’t doing enough for their workers. Harton, who now works in landscaping, recently worked at fast-food restaurants and his son works at a McDonald’s in Durham.

“They tweet about Black Lives Matter but they don’t really care,” he said. “Black and brown workers put on their uniforms every day but they don’t provide enough protection. They pay poverty wages.”

Protesters at the rally called for a $15 minimum wage, paid sick leave, hazard pay and the ability to unionize.

In a statement, McDonald’s said that it supported the need for racial equality in the country.

“McDonald’s unequivocally supports the need for racial equality and social justice and stands with Black communities across the globe where we are proud to offer employment opportunities and learn from our team members to make the McDonald’s System stronger,” the company said in an emailed statement. “We believe Black lives matter, and it is our responsibility to continue to listen and learn and push for a more equitable and inclusive society.”

The company added that it believes it has distributed an ample supply of protective equipment to its restaurants, including more than 100 million masks.

“We are confident the vast majority of employees are covered with sick pay if they are impacted by COVID-19,” McDonald’s added, noting its franchisees have awarded bonuses and raises to employees during the pandemic.

Hazard pay in coronavirus pandemic?

Faith Alexander, a certified nursing assistant from Fayetteville, drove to Durham on Monday to take part in the strike. She believes protests around racial justice are beginning to have an effect — but there’s still a lot of work to be done.

“We’re making progress, but I see corporations placing up signs but not making a change,” she said.

Alexander, who is Black, said in the health care system there are many people like her who are making less than $15 an hour, which she believes is too little to be working on the front lines of a pandemic.

Nursing aides, like Alexander, typically make around $13.38 per hour, and around a quarter of nursing home workers are Black, The Associated Press reported, citing the advocacy group PCI.

“The country is relying on (Black, low-wage workers) right now,” Alexander said. “And as a health care worker we are always relied on ... even more so now.”

Alexander said that the government should pass some form of hazard pay for workers. The Brookings study found that a hypothetical $5 per hour increase for essential workers would cost just over $35 billion a month.

“We’re definitely under compensated at this point in time with COVID going on,” she said.

This story was originally published July 20, 2020 at 2:39 PM.