Raleigh News & Observer Logo

Local fast-food workers rally for better pay, conditions | Raleigh News & Observer

×
  • E-edition
    • Customer Service
    • Support
    • Contact Us
    • About Us
    • FAQ
    • Sponsorships
    • Stay connected
    • Mobile & Apps
    • Facebook
    • Google+
    • Instagram
    • Twitter
    • Social Media Directory
    • N&O Store
    • Buy Photos
    • Databases
    • Archives
    • Newsletters

    • Blogs
    • Columnists
    • Crime
    • Education
    • Health
    • Local
    • North Carolina
    • Nation/World
    • Science
    • Thumbs Up
    • Traffic
    • Weather
    • Weird News
    • All News
    • Counties
    • Durham County
    • Johnston County
    • Orange County
    • Wake County
    • All Sports
    • Baseball
    • Canes
    • College
    • Columns & Blogs
    • High Schools
    • NASCAR & Auto Racing
    • NBA
    • NFL
    • NHL
    • Olympics
    • Outdoors
    • Panthers
    • Soccer
    • Schools
    • Duke
    • East Carolina
    • NC State
    • North Carolina
    • All Politics
    • The North Carolina Influencer Series
    • State Politics
    • Blogs
    • Columnists
    • PolitiFact
    • PolitiFact NC
    • Rob Christensen
    • Under the Dome
    • All Business
    • Blogs
    • Columnists
    • Health Care
    • Personal Finance
    • Real Estate
    • Shop Talk
    • Stocks Center
    • Technology
    • All Living
    • Video Now
    • Best-Kept Secrets
    • Blogs
    • Celebrations
    • Comics
    • Family
    • Fashion
    • Fitness
    • Food
    • Games and Puzzles
    • Home and Garden
    • Horoscopes
    • Mouthful
    • Past Times
    • Pets
    • Religion
    • Travel
    • Video Now
    • Arts News
    • ArtsNow
    • Books
    • Contests
    • Dining
    • Entertainment
    • Games
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Nightlife
    • Television
    • On the Beat
    • Happiness is a Warm TV
    • All Opinion
    • Columnists
    • Dwane Powell
    • Editorials
    • Influencers Opinion
    • Letters
    • Opinion Shop Blog
    • Other Views
    • Submit a Letter
  • Obituaries

    • Advertise with us
    • Place Ad
    • Apartments
    • Cars
    • Homes
    • Jobs
    • Legals
    • Obits/In Memoriams
    • Weddings
    • Today's Daily Deal
    • Special Sections
    • Today's Circulars
    • Rewards
    • Photo Store
  • Classifieds
  • Jobs
  • Moonlighting
  • Cars
  • Homes
  • Legals

Midtown Raleigh News

Local fast-food workers rally for better pay, conditions

By Colin Campbell - ccampbell@newsobserver.com

    ORDER REPRINT →

August 23, 2013 06:19 PM

At $7.95 an hour, Lucia Gareia Legua brings in about $200 a week from her job at a Raleigh McDonald’s restaurant – an amount that barely covers rent, leaving her to rely on food stamps to feed her three kids.

She’s ready to push for better pay and working conditions, and on Thursday she’ll join other fast food workers from around the Triangle and around the nation to strike for a living wage.

“I want a better future for my kids,” the 37-year-old mom said through a translator.

Organized largely through social media, the walkout takes place Thursday from fast-food restaurants nationwide. The movement is calling for $15-per-hour wages and the right to form a union. Locally, workers from about 30 eateries in the Triangle will leave work to protest, culminating in an afternoon march at Raleigh’s Martin Street Baptist Church – the same spot that launched some of the Moral Monday rallies earlier this year.

Sign Up and Save

Get six months of free digital access to The News & Observer

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

#ReadLocal

“The pay is inadequate, and the conditions are inadequate,” said Pat McCoy, director of Action NC, one of the community groups that’s organizing the Triangle event. “A living wage is the goal here. ... This is an industry where people are considered to be particularly vulnerable.”

Some local fast-food workers said their part-time hours and low pay makes them reliant on government assistance. Regina Mays, a 34-year-old single mom, can’t afford to rent with the minimum wage she earns at a Durham Little Caesars Pizza.

“My family and I are homeless due to poor pay right now,” Mays said.

Mays says she never intended to get stuck with a 20-hour-a-week food service job. An Army veteran, she was laid off from a job at GlaxoSmithKline that paid twice as much. She said she’s searching for another part-time job but can’t find one.

At Little Caesars, she said she once wasn’t given a shift for four weeks due to a “misunderstanding” with managers. That’s when she lost her home. And while the pizza joint’s part-time workers aren’t supposed to exceed their hours, she said they sometimes clock out and stick around to help the next shift.

“To me, that’s considered like stealing money from the employees, because you’re asking for free labor,” Mays said.

Gareia Legua also has a list of workplace changes she’d like to see at McDonald’s. She’s upset that workers have to take meal breaks in a tiny back room – they’re forbidden from eating in the main dining room, she said. And after injuring her arm on the job, Gareia Legua says she immediately returned and cooked hamburgers with one hand.

“I haven’t even taken a vacation day yet because I’m worried about not making money,” she said. “I want everything to change.”

McCoy said other fast-food workers have similar complaints, and they have few options outside of the industry. “Many of these people are older workers who have been at these jobs for a number of years,” he said.

Representatives from three Raleigh fast-food franchises did not return calls seeking comment on the protests. Nationally, opponents of a higher minimum wage have said the change could hurt job creation.

But Allan Freyer, an economic policy analyst at the left-leaning N.C. Budget and Tax Center, doesn’t buy that theory. “The evidence from academic economists is pretty clear: Raising the wage for fast-food workers is good for the economy,” he said, noting that the change improves productivity, reduces turnover and results in workers buying more goods from their employers. “These positive effects spill over to the broader economy.”

It’s rare for fast-food workers to go on strike, especially in non-union states like North Carolina. Employees such as Mays and Gareia Legua say they’re concerned how their employers will react, but they’re eager to take action.

“In history, the ones that create the change feel the backdraft of the change,” Mays said. “I am very excited for the things that this organization is trying to create.”

  Comments  

Videos

Property owner opposed to Raleigh greenway location

Men at Work leaving downtown Raleigh after 29 years

View More Video

Trending Stories

Bladen County operative ‘told us what we were to say’ at hearing, worker testifies

February 18, 2019 06:00 AM

How does UNC plan to defend Duke’s Zion Williamson? Roy Williams and players weigh-in.

February 18, 2019 05:08 PM

Operative at center of NC election fraud hearing won’t testify

February 18, 2019 02:16 PM

‘Bachelor’ recap, Week 7: Colton works out his trust issues with Caelynn and Cassie

February 18, 2019 10:04 PM

North Carolina will be without Sterling Manley for Duke game, Roy Williams says

February 18, 2019 05:39 PM

Read Next

Man accused of July 4th killing in Raleigh is charged for three who were wounded

Crime

Man accused of July 4th killing in Raleigh is charged for three who were wounded

By Ron Gallagher

rgallagher@newsobserver.com

    ORDER REPRINT →

July 18, 2017 11:53 AM

An 18-year-old charged with murder in a July 4th shooting in Raleigh, NC, has now been charged with three assaults involving people who were wounded.

KEEP READING

Sign Up and Save

#ReadLocal

Get six months of free digital access to The News & Observer

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

MORE MIDTOWN RALEIGH NEWS

Raleigh man accused of sex offense with 13-year-old girl in 2013, 2014

Crime

Raleigh man accused of sex offense with 13-year-old girl in 2013, 2014

July 18, 2017 11:13 AM
Assault on trail at Lake Johnson Park brings police to search area

Crime

Assault on trail at Lake Johnson Park brings police to search area

July 17, 2017 10:52 AM
GA man, woman stung by undercover methamphetamine buy, Wake deputies say

Crime

GA man, woman stung by undercover methamphetamine buy, Wake deputies say

July 17, 2017 01:17 PM

Crime

Unclear why it happened, but man hurt by early morning gunshot in Raleigh

July 17, 2017 07:36 AM
Police charge suspect in Raleigh 4th of July killing with April shooting and robbery

Crime

Police charge suspect in Raleigh 4th of July killing with April shooting and robbery

July 14, 2017 12:15 PM
Man went to ER under 4 false names and got morphine twice, WakeMed police charge

Crime

Man went to ER under 4 false names and got morphine twice, WakeMed police charge

July 14, 2017 12:05 PM
Take Us With You

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand.

Icon for mobile apps

Raleigh News & Observer App

View Newsletters

Subscriptions
  • Start a Subscription
  • Customer Service
  • eEdition
  • Vacation Hold
  • Pay Your Bill
  • Rewards
Learn More
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletters
  • News in Education
  • Triangletoday.com
  • Legal Notices
Advertising
  • Advertise With Us
  • About Our Ads
  • Place a Classified
  • Local Deals
  • N&O Store
  • N&O Photos
Copyright
Commenting Policy
Report News
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use


Back to Story