Fast food, farm, airport workers to strike Monday over racial injustice, union says
SEIU says tens of thousands of workers throughout the U.S. will take part in 'Strike for Black Lives' on Monday
The Service Employees International Union says tens of thousands of workers throughout the U.S. will take part in "Strike for Black Lives" on Monday and walk out of their workplaces for eight minutes and 46 seconds to remember George Floyd.
"Companies like McDonald's cannot on the one hand tweet that 'Black Lives Matter' and on the other pay us poverty wages and fail to provide sick days and adequate PPE," Angely Rodriguez Lambert, a McDonald's employee in Oakland, Calif., said in a statement shared by SEIU.
"We're going on strike because McDonald's and other fast-food companies have failed to protect us in a pandemic that has ravaged Black and brown communities across the country," Lambert said.
People inspired by a speaker raise their hands during a Caribbean-led Black Lives Matter rally at Brooklyn's Grand Army Plaza, June 14, 2020, in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
The walkout will include workers from fast food, nursing home, rideshare and other sectors, according to SEIU. Labor groups including the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the American Federation of Teachers and the National Domestic Workers Alliance are supporting the walkout.
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SEIU said there will be planned actions from Sacramento to Boston, including a caravan of nursing home workers and airport workers. The airport workers, including wheelchair attendants and cabin cleaners, are demanding a $15-an-hour minimum wage and a "just and safe plan to bring people back into public and travel spaces," according to SEIU.
McDonald's pushed back against the assertion it did not protect workers from coronavirus in a statement to FOX Business.
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"With one of the most diverse workforces in the world, we believe Black lives matter, and it is our responsibility to continue to listen and learn and push for a more inclusive society by being open, honest and candid," the company said in a statement. "To provide for the safety of the over 800,000 restaurant crew that have served meals to communities and healthcare workers during the pandemic, McDonald's enhanced over 50 processes in restaurants. McDonald's and our franchisees distributed an ample supply of PPE with no supply breaks, including gloves and over 100 million masks, in addition to installing protective barriers in restaurants."
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