{"id":703,"date":"2013-12-14T11:23:00","date_gmt":"2013-12-14T11:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2013\/12\/on-fight-for-15.html"},"modified":"2013-12-14T11:23:00","modified_gmt":"2013-12-14T11:23:00","slug":"on-fight-for-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2013\/12\/on-fight-for-15.html","title":{"rendered":"On “Fight for 15”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

So I finally got around to looking at the \u201cFight for 15\u201d website<\/a> and was surprised by a couple things:<\/p>\n

First of all, the\u00a0news reporting made this appear to be a national campaign, but it\u2019s really Chicago-centered.\u00a0 Here\u2019s the main text on their website:\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Chicago\u2019s fast food and retail workers, mostly adults with families, and those who support us are fighting for the just compensation and dignified treatment that all hardworking Americans deserve. As the Workers Organizing Committee of Chicago, we demand a fair wage of $15 an hour and the right to form a union without retaliation so we can support our families, strengthen Chicago\u2019s economy, reduce crime, and improve our neighborhoods.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So item number 2:\u00a0 they\u2019re specifically campaigning for a $15\/hour wage for fast food and retail, not an overall increase in the minimum wage.\u00a0 Which is odd \u2014 because fast food and retail ought to, by the level of skill and physical effort required, be among the least paid jobs in the country, regardless of the level the minimum wage is set at.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m also not clear on their argument about the \u201cright to form a union without retaliation\u201d as fast food\/retail workers are protected by the same union-organizing laws as every other industry.\u00a0 If McDonalds, for instance, is violating those laws, then there are legal remedies, aren\u2019t there?\u00a0 See \u201cAgency Admonishes Wal-Mart over Protests<\/a>\u201d for a description of ongoing government actions against the company. \u00a0(Found via a google search \u2014 so if the direct link is behind a paywall, a google search on the title may work.)\u00a0 For that matter, many grocery stores around here are unionized, and unions have attempted to organize elsewhere as well.\u00a0 (My own mother works at Macys, formerly Marshall Fields, formerly Hudsons, and the UAW tried to organize a union there \u2014 they lost the vote.\u00a0 For a time, I worked at a Meijers in the Detroit area that was unionized \u2014 I didn\u2019t see any better pay than otherwise but had to pay union dues anyway!)<\/p>\n

So anyway, surprise number 3:\u00a0 they don\u2019t understand optics.\u00a0\u00a0Here\u2019s a photo which closely matches one that appeared\u00a0in a Chicago Tribune article of a recent protest (I couldn\u2019t find the original; the one below comes from a \u201cFight for 15\u201d google search).<\/p>\n

\"chi<\/a><\/p>\n

Go to their facebook page<\/a> and it\u2019s the same story:\u00a0 Spanish is very prominent \u2014 with a significant number of their updates not just bilingual but solely in Spanish.\u00a0 Guys, a bit of advice:\u00a0 if you want to persuade the rest of us that your labor is worth $15 an hour, you\u2019re not going to be very convincing if your message is that these laborers can\u2019t even read or write English.<\/p>\n

Of course, their fundamental premise is that fast food or retail work at a 40-hour\/week should be enough, not just to live, but to support a family.\u00a0 Exactly what kind of life working at an unskilled job should be able to support they don\u2019t say \u2014 which was surprise #5 \u2014 that there\u2019s very little on their website at all \u2014 just a petition and an invitation to provide an e-mail address and cell phone to get text message updates.\u00a0 Guess I\u2019ll have to go somewhere else to find any sophisticated arguments!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So I finally got around to looking at the \u201cFight for 15\u201d website and was surprised by a couple things: First of all, the\u00a0news reporting made this appear to be a national campaign, but it\u2019s really Chicago-centered.\u00a0 Here\u2019s the main text on their website:\u00a0 Chicago\u2019s fast food and retail workers, mostly adults with families, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nOn "Fight for 15"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"So I finally got around to looking at the "Fight for 15" website and was surprised by a couple things:First of all, the news reporting made this\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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