Tag Archives: featured

ICYMI: NYTimes Editorial Board on Sexual Harassment, #metoo, Wage Theft in Restaurants

March 20, 2018 15 Now

On March 12th, 2018, the New York Times Editorial Board wrote,
“[The tip penalty] discrepancy hurts workers by putting them at greater risk of wage theft, sexual harassment and other workplace exploitation — bosses can easily withhold or steal tips, especially from workers they don’t like or who refuse their propositions. These are hardly idle threats, as demonstrated by the recent allegations of abuse against prominent chefs and restaurant owners and the multimillion-dollar wage theft settlements workers have secured in recent years by suing unscrupulous employers.”
Read the full NYTimes piece here: http://nyti.ms/2u4aeaV

The federal tipped minimum wage is $2.13. The service industry is one of the fastest growing job markets in the U.S., made up of a majority women workers. In light of the growing #metoo movement, many restaurant workers are organizing and standing up to call attention to rampant sexual harassment and wage theft.

The National Restaurant Association, no friend of workers, is a big business lobby that fights to roll back minimum wage victories won through the struggles and movements of working people in states and cities like Minneapolis, Seattle, California, and even republican controlled South Dakota. In Minneapolis, workers won a $15 minimum wage with Trump in office, and while the political establishment in City Hall first called $15 illegal, then impossible — but through building in communities, workplaces, on high school and college campuses, we won.

Our movement has shown that the #fightfor15 #15Now has been won by unapologetically relying on the independent power of working people, as a step to address the systematic racism, economic inequality, and sexism embedded and exemplified in U.S. capitalism. As Sarah Leonard pointed out in her piece on working class women addressing sexual predators who aren’t famous (like the Harvey Weinstein allegations that sparked #metoo), “For these women, shaming their bosses on Twitter or going to a newspaper is, unfortunately, rarely an option — if the predator doesn’t have a big public profile, few will notice the complaint except, perhaps, the guy with the power to fire the person complaining. That’s why women in these fields often take another route: collective action.”

With the Trump administration attacking workers rights and rolling back department of labor protections, it’s more urgent than ever to fight back, to defend what workers movements have won in the past, and demand #15forAll workers.

We built a movement, and WON

July 5, 2017 15 Now

Over 71,000 Minneapolis workers are getting a RAISE!

After three years of strikes, protests, and a ballot initiative last year, the grassroots movement fighting for $15/hour made possible what the political establishment said was impossible.

From a far-out demand initiated in 2012 by fast food workers in New York City, the $15/hour movement has swept the United States. But big business is doing everything it can, from the billionaire backed Trump administration’s attack on workers’ rights to throwing resources to back state legislation to make raising the minimum wage in cities like Minneapolis illegal.

But our movement is winning.
Help us grow the 15 Now movement by donating $15 today!

Minneapolis is the first midwest city to win $15/hour.
Let’s continue building the movement to win #15forAll50.

Solidarity,
15 Now

Minimum Wage Victories in 2016 Show We Can Beat Trump’s Agenda

January 12, 2017 15 Now

Minimum wage victories swept the nation in 2016, with $15 winning in Washington D.C., parts of Oregon and New York, the entire state of California and more, resulting in raises for 11.8 million people. In the past four years of the nationwide fight for $15, low-wage workers have won $62 billion in wage increases (NELP report).

In Minnesota, as in Ohio most recently, the state government could block workers’ rights legislation at the local level. It’s called pre-emption, and it’s been happening in states across the country. And at the national level, Trump has even appointed a Fast Food CEO as labor secretary, someone who says he doesn’t believe in a minimum wage!

Watch, share, and retweet the 15 Now MN video on pre-emption:

Don’t let MN Republicans block #15forMpls and workers’ rights!
Watch & RETWEET this video: #15Now #Fightfor15 @mnnoc @cmkshama @fightfor15 pic.twitter.com/LhQsG9QQDZ

— 15 Now Minnesota (@15NowMN) January 11, 2017

Our movements have won tremendous victories since fast-food workers first took strike action in 2012. Low-wage workers pushed $15/hr on the agenda in the first place, and it’s going to take a powerful movement of low-wage workers to fight back against people like Trump and Andrew Puzder, the CEO of Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr, and the President-elect’s pick for the new Secretary of Labor. Puzder is against raising minimum wage, fiercely anti-union, and a strong advocate for “trickle down” economics. That makes sense. The average full time Hardee’s worker makes $15,130 a year. Meanwhile, Andrew Puzder made $17,162……. a day!

Puzder will fit right into the new administration. In addition to its rampant poverty wages, Hardee’s ads have been criticized for objectifying women. When asked about this, Puzder said “I like our ads. I like beautiful women eating burgers in bikinis. I think it’s very American.”

Puzder claims that paying people a living wage will be an added regulatory cost that businesses will have to offset by increasing unemployment, which data clearly shows is not the case. According to a recent release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the city of Seattle, which passed a $15 ordinance almost 2 years ago, hit a new cycle low of 3.4% unemployment.

When people like Trump and Puzder say “make America great again”, they mean to make their billionaire buddies richer at the expense of working people. We can’t wait for Trump’s team to put forth “trickle down” policies that will only benefit people like Trump and their colleagues. We need to build mass movements to fight against right-wing attacks and for working people.

Big business interests will use every tool they have to continue raking in record profits: whether it’s lobbying for a tip penalty and other carve-outs that undermine minimum wage, or by ramming through pre-emption legislation across the states.

We need to continue building our movement, to demand that elected officials don’t leave the door open for Trump’s agenda and corporate attacks!

Help us grow the movement. Donate at www.15now.org/donate

Big Business won this round, but the fight is far from over | 15 Now Minnesota

August 31, 2016 15 Now

While this is a setback, we still forced $15 on the agenda – and it’s here to stay.

The Minnesota Supreme Court sided with Mayor Hodges, Minneapolis City Council and the Chamber of Commerce to strip Minneapolis of the right to vote on a $15/hour minimum wage. While our charter amendment is blocked, the fight for $15 in Minneapolis is far from over. We forced the council to open a debate about an ordinance by the second quarter of 2017. The Supreme Court’s decision affirmed that the Minneapolis City Council has the power to pass $15/hour as an ordinance at any time. Now more than ever we need to keep up the momentum to demand the council pass our proposal for $15 as an ordinance.

Join fast food workers on Monday, September 12th at 1:00pm at Wendy’s in North Minneapolis (421 W Broadway Ave) to demand City Council pass $15/hr. Let’s keep up the momentum.

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

For decades they ignored poverty wages in Minneapolis, but we kept organizing and we forced them to take notice. Then they said $15/hour was unrealistic. They fought back with everything they have, taking this to the conservative Supreme Court. This morning we demanded that Mayor Hodges and Minneapolis City Council drop the appeal, but they refused to even consider it. The fact they are this threatened fundamentally shows how strong we are. But we kept organizing, and we’ve paved a path to win $15/hour!

We have terrified big business and the political establishment in Minneapolis. Our grassroots campaign has already won the public battle over the hearts and minds of the people to end poverty wages. 68% of Minneapolis residents support our charter amendment. The same poll showed a stunning 83% of African Americans and 74% of women voters support our proposal, groups that are disproportionately affected by poverty wages. Big business knew we would win, which is why the DFL controlled City Council and Mayor Hodges worked overtime to block a popular vote on $15, even going so far as uniting with Republican Justices at the Minnesota Supreme Court.

The Minnesota Supreme Court has a long track record of siding against working people. One Minnesota Justice was even one of Donald Trump’s potential choices to replace Antonin Scalia on the US Supreme Court. This did not stop City Hall from relying on this court when it seemed clear $15/hour would win at the ballot. City Hall even welcomed the Chamber of Commerce as an ally on the appeal, allowing them to file their own separate legal argument to block $15/hour from voters. Why did they go through all this trouble? To defend powerful corporations like Target and Best Buy, who want to keep making massive profits off the exploitation of working people in Minneapolis.

We started this campaign for simple reasons. 62 families own as much wealth as the bottom half of the world’s population. The CEO of Target makes $11,000/hour, while the average retail worker makes around $10/hr. The Twin Cities are home to 17 Fortune 500 companies – the highest concentration in the country – yet also the worst racial inequities in the nation. Passing $15/hr will be an economic opportunity for over 100,000 Minneapolis workers, and it would put almost a billion dollars back into pockets of low-wage workers each year – that’s what the City of Minneapolis just stole from voters. We’ve come so far, but now we need to continue the struggle.

Through determined organizing, low-wage workers have dramatically changed the political landscape in a few short years. In 2012 the first fast food workers went on strike demanding $15. In 2013, Minneapolis City Council Members refused to even explore raising minimum wage. Then low-wage workers won $15 in SeaTac, a suburb of Seattle. In 2014, 15 Now formed in Seattle and led a movement to make it the first major US city to pass $15/hour. Since then, dozens of cities have followed suit. Now a majority of Americans support a $15/hour minimum wage, and it’s commonly accepted as an important policy in cities with high costs of living and poverty rates, like Minneapolis.

While the Supreme Court’s decision blocks one path to $15, low-wage workers have already blazed another. It’s now widely accepted that Minneapolis has the power to pass our proposal for $15 as an ordinance. In fact, City Council passed a nonbinding resolution to pass a minimum wage ordinance, but failed to set a dollar amount or time frame for implementation. Because of our movement, 68% of Minneapolis residents support our reasonable proposal, $15/hour for big business by 2020 and small business by 2022. Make your voice heard on September 12th, and demand City Council pass our proposal for $15/hour.

Let’s regain the momentum and keep $15 on the agenda by organizing a mass rally on September 12th. Let’s show City Hall and the Chamber of Commerce that while they won this round, the fight is far from over.

-Ginger Jentzen,

Executive Director of 15 Now Minnesota

Justices Reject Franchises’ Appeal over Seattle’s $15 min. Wage — McDonalds is NOT a Small business

May 11, 2016 15 Now

Our Movement is Winning! Join the fight for 15 Now!
Donate to grow the movement today: www.15Now.org/donate

From the Washington Post
SEATTLE — The U.S. Supreme Court weighed in for the first time Monday on a $15-an-hour minimum wage, signaling it does not plan to stop the movement that is spreading across the nation, worker advocates say.
The justices refused to hear a challenge to Seattle’s law, which franchise owners said discriminates against them by treating them as large businesses.

From The Stranger (Seattle)
The International Franchise Association argued the law discriminated against franchises and violated the Commerce Clause. They lost that argument last year in U.S. District Court and the 9th Circuit. [The May 2nd] decision means those lower court decisions will stand. That’s good news for workers in Seattle and in cities across the country looking to follow our lead on $15.

NY Times Editorial Board Calls for $15 Minimum Wage Nationwide

December 28, 2015 15 Now

“Sooner or later, Congress has to set an adequate wage floor for the nation as a whole. If it does so in the near future, the new minimum should be $15.”
–New York Times Editorial Board
Dec 26th, 2015 (Image via NY Times)

We know the widespread support for a $15 minimum wage is because of the massive movement of low-wage workers organizing and building grassroots pressure to win. On January 1st, Seattle workers will get another raise in the steps toward $15/hour.

Can you donate $10, $15, or $25/month to win a $15/hour minimum wage nationwide?

We need to continue building support for $15/hour in 2016 in our communities and workplaces. Because of this growing workers’ movement, the mainstream press and establishment politicians have been forced to answer to workers’ rights. We know that without massive pressure from below, politics as-usual means little changes for working people and big business continues to make massive profits off poverty pay, unchallenged.

“In five states and nine cities – including California, New York, Oregon and Washington, D.C. – voters and lawmakers will consider proposals in 2016 to gradually raise minimum wages to $15 an hour.

The ballot initiatives and pending legislation will build on momentum from this year, in which 14 states and localities used laws, executive orders and other procedures to lift wages for all or part of their work forces to $15 an hour.”

Across the country, $15/hour is a fight we can win.

Fight for $15 in All 50

March 28, 2015 Bryan Watson

Major Victories Possible If Labor Launches a National Campaign for a $15/Hour Minimum Wage

by Ty Moore, 15 Now National Organizer

On April 15, fast-food strikers and other low-wage workers are planning their biggest protests yet for “$15 and a union.” The driving force behind these actions, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), reportedly aims to turn out 60,000 workers and supporters in over 200 cities across the country.

Chapters of 15 Now are going all-out to build for the April 15 demonstrations, to demand union rights and raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

According to a January Hart Research poll, 63% of the country now suppors a $15 federal minimum wage. Support is even higher in most big cities. The time is right for the big unions to help launch an all-out national campaign for a $15 an hour minimum wage. Let’s use April 15 to kick things off!

Everywhere, anger at corporate greed – and the extreme wealth and racial inequities – is reaching a boiling point. The fight for a $15 an hour minimum wage has the potential to become a powerful mass movement uniting low-wage workers demanding union rights, people of color standing up against racism, and young people facing a dead-end future.
Continue reading →

Court rejects McDonald’s claim that they’re a small business

March 18, 2015 Bryan Watson

Join 15 Now, labor unions, and Councilmember Sawant on March 28 to let workers know they are getting a raise!

“The $15/hour minimum wage movement delivered a resounding one-two punch against right-wing opponents of 15,” began a triumphant Facebook post by Socialist Seattle City Coucilmember Kshama Sawant on Wednesday, March 18.

Sawant and 15 Now played an instrumental role in helping pass the historic minimum wage law in Seattle that goes into effect on April 1, giving a pay raise to more than 100,000 workers in the city, and eventually raising the minimum wage to $15/hour. With just a few weeks until the law goes into effect, big business is still resisting.

Continue reading →

250 Rally for $15 in Minneapolis with Kshama Sawant

February 19, 2015 15 Now

On Sunday February 15th, 15 Now MN hosted a rally and fundraiser featuring Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant, who spoke alongside activists and community leaders. Over 250 supporters attended the event and contributed $10,000 toward building the grassroots campaign for $15 at MSP-airport and in the city of Minneapolis!

15 Now national organizer Ty Moore kicked off the rally by pointing to the growing momentum nationally for a $15 minimum wage and a recent poll showing 63% of Americans support raising the federal minimum wage to $15. Following Moore were speakers from Neighborhoods Organizing for Change (NOC), Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en la Lucha (CTUL) and the 15 Now MSP-airport campaign. Ubah Warsame, a wage and housing rights activist from Seattle, offered solidarity with the struggle in Minneapolis and energized the crowd before CTUL leader and fast-food worker, Guillermo Lindsay, and MSP airport organizer Kip Hedges spoke to the effects of poverty wages on their co-workers and the dramatic impact $15 would have on their lives.

Guillermo Lindsey, CTUL leader and fast-food worker

“I want to invite everyone here into a transformational struggle for $15, like the campaign for an 8 hour day was for workers 100 years ago,” said Kip Hedges, who will soon file a federal lawsuit against his illegal firing by Delta airlines which sparked outrage and galvanized support for the $15 demand at MSP-airport

Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant highlighted the 15 Now movement’s victory, which will lift 100,000 workers out of poverty in Seattle and return an estimated $3 billion back into the pockets of workers over the next decade. “The interests of corporations are fundamentally in conflict with the interests of working people,”

Sawant said, encouraging supporters to build a fierce grassroots campaign for $15. “Even though the US is the richest country in the world,” Sawant said, “[big business says] we must debate about whether workers deserve $15. Low-wage workers make this country run, we need $15 for all the workers who make Minneapolis run.”

Minneapolis City Council Members Jacob Frey and Alondra Cano spoke at the rally in support of a minimum wage increase for the City of Minneapolis, with Cano coming out in favor of $15 by the end of 2015 amidst loud cheers from the crowd. City Council member Lisa Bender also made a public donation of $1,000 to the campaign, and has since come out publicly for $15. Jacob Frey also pledged support for a minimum wage hike, though says he is not yet ready to commit to $15/hour.

Mark your calendars! Join NOC, Working America, CTUL and 15 Now MN for a Worker’s Rights Forum: $15 and Beyond on Saturday February 28th from 2-4pm. Let’s join the growing number of cities and states across the country who are taking action to raise the minimum wage, provide workers earned sick days, ensure fair scheduling, and enact other measures to address our worst-in-the country racial disparities.

15 Now wants to thank all those who spoke and donated on Sunday for their courage and support! Thanks to the Green Party of Minnesota and Neighborhoods Organizing for Change (NOC) for sponsoring donations, and to Minneapolis City Council Members Alondra Cano, Lisa Bender and Cam Gordon for endorsing 15 Now!

The support from Councilmembers Cano, Gordon and Bender indicate the tremendous potential to win $15 in Minneapolis this year. The active and organized grassroots campaign of low-wage workers and supporters was key to winning their support, and the strengthening of this campaign will be vital to winning the support of a majority of city councilmembers. We invite all supporters to get involved today to build 15 Now MN.

Solidarity!

15 Now Team

Twitter @15NowMN – Facebook.com/15NowMN – fifteennowmn@gmail.com – www.15now.org

Press
Video, My FOX Twin Cities:
http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/story/28111346/seattle-council-member-to-headline-minneapolis-rally-for-15-minimum-wage

Star Tribune:
http://www.startribune.com/local/minneapolis/291924751.html

New Poll: 63% Support a $15 Federal Minimum Wage!

January 26, 2015 15 Now

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” – Frederick Douglass, 1857

In the wake of Seattle and San Francisco passing minimum wage ordinances for $15 in 2014, and successful minimum wage ballot initiatives last November, a new poll conducted by Hart Research Associates shows 63% of respondents support raising the federal minimum wage to $15. The Hart poll shows that, in two short years, strike action and protest by low-wage workers, combined with major victories has dramatically changed public opinion. Low-wage workers have pushed public opinion past President Obama’s 2014 proposal for $10.10, and have set the national target of $15 minimum wage in 2015.

Other highlights from the poll:

75% support $12.50 by 2020
71% support elimination of the tip penalty (which disproportionately affects women)
82% support indexing wage to inflation

If implemented, these changes would have a dramatic effect on the lives of low-wage workers nationwide, raising millions out of poverty.

Opposition doomsday arguments are crumbling as well. A recent University of Massachusetts study concluded that fast-food giants like McDonalds could raise wages to $15 without shedding jobs, which flies in the face of the National Restaurant Association claims that,“$15 would clearly jeopardize opportunities for existing and prospective employees.” (Aljazeera 1/23)

Thousands of fast-food workers have taken to the streets over the past two years demanding $15 and a union, and home healthcare, retail, and airport workers across the country have now joined in the fight for $15/hour. Now is the time to get involved to win $15 in all 50 states!

Get involved with 15 Now today, Donate, Join the struggle for $15 in all 50!