Dozens arrested in minimum wage protests across the US

State Sen. Jamie Eldridge, an Acton Democrat, was among those taken into custody after a group of minimum wage earners, including fast-food workers, and their supporters sat down on a street in front of a McDonald’s restaurant in Cambridge and blocked traffic as part of nationwide protests. The protest was part of a national demonstration in 340 cities for higher wages, union rights, and civil rights. It estimates that 19 million workers will benefit from these increases. It is higher in some states and cities – for example, $9 in NY and $10.50 in Chicago. SEIU did not respond to requests for comment from HHCN as of press time.

The issue of wages is highly explosive. Thousands plan to walk off the job at McDonald’s restaurants.

If manufacturing jobs aren’t likely to return, what will replace such employment?

The federal minimum wage has been .25 an hour since July 24, 2009.

Workers in these industries are highly exploited, and often endure atrocious working conditions.

“We’re not asking, we’re demanding”, Kisha Rivera, a cabin cleaner at O’Hare, who earns the city’s $10.50 per hour minimum wage, told the Chicago Tribune.

“It’s going to hurt the workers that it’s meant to help”. “At one point he said wages were too high in this country; we showed up at the debate and he said “. “Our movement is resilient and unstoppable, and I will never stop fighting for an America where all work is valued and every family in every community has the opportunity to thrive”.

“I’m only working 25 hours, but with those hours I can not afford to buy something for my kids”, Ballecer said. “It’s just bad, how the distribution of wealth is”.

For the first time since the Fight for $15 began, Uber drivers are participating in the protest.

On Tuesday, Major was joined by workers from around the country in the latest Fight for $15 strike. “That’s not what they’re trying to do”. But Chicago Department of Aviation officials say they don’t anticipate disruptions.

The Rev. Gloria White-Hammond, pastor of Bethel AME Church, said a $15 wage is part of the American promise that, “If you go out and work hard, when you come home, you’ll be able to afford the rent and put food on your table”.

At least 26 people were arrested in NY as part of a nationwide minimum wage protest. Some home care clients protested with their caregivers. According to organizers, child care workers are being forced out of their profession because of low wages. These workers have argued that due to their long hours, they do not make $15 an hour themselves.

They were among about 350 people at a peaceful rally, chanting “We shall not be moved” and waving signs that read “We won’t back down” and “Strike for $15 and our future”.

The Legislature last increased the minimum wage in 2014, when then-Gov.

During the eight years of the Obama administration the unions collaborated with Democratic Party to reduce real wages and facilitate the greatest transfer of wealth from the bottom to the top of society. Prior to that, the minimum wage was $8 per hour. Protesters also want a union for fast-food workers. “We don’t have a union, but we’re acting like one”.

“Ultimately this raises the incentive for employers to find cheaper substitutes for expensive labor such as outsourcing, offshoring or substituting machines for people”, Wagner wrote in the libertarian-leaning think tank’s blog. This is the first Fight for 15 protest since Donald Trump became the president-elect.