Texas Fast Food Strike for Higher Minimum Wage
Several fast food workers from Dallas, Houston and Austin are leaving their posts and joining a strike Thursday, says Dallas News.
The strike will occur after the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington led by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. There are no reports or official statement as to where the rallies will occur. The exact location is said to be revealed right before the strike begins.
Aside from Dallas, Houston and Austin, other cities will also be participating in the nationwide strike. A total of 45 cities across the nation will be involved in the picketing.
The fast food strike is an effort to raise the national minimum wage particularly, the wages of fast food workers. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, says the Texas Tribune. According to the National Employment Law Project, the average wage for frontline fast food workers is $8.94 an hour.
Several fast food workers are having difficulties in making ends meet - even if they are earning a bit more than the federal minimum wage.
A report by Dallas News presents the case of Darletha Jones, a 45-year old fast food worker at Wendy's. According to her, she has been working almost exclusively for the fast food chain since 1998.
Jones makes $8.75 an hour - well above the federal minimum wage but is still struggling with in terms of paying rent.
Another case is cited by the Texas Tribune - that of Jose Avila. Avila dropped out of college and has worked at Subway for well over a year. He earns $7.75 an hour but is also finding it difficult to make ends meet. He even claims that he walks an hour and a half to work and vice versa - scrimping on bus fares which he now regards as luxuries.
Avila and Jones are both joining the food strike Thursday - aiming for a $15 per hour minimum wage. They are not alone in the endeavor with various organizations and clergymen behind their backs like the Texas Organizing Project, Jobs with Justice, an interfaith coalition and Rev. Robert Conley, pastor of Testament of Praise church in Dallas.
The Service Employees International Union is also technically and financially supporting the food strike.