Fight for $15
The movement has involved strikes by child care, home healthcare, airport, gas station, convenience store, and fast food workers for increased wages and the right to form a labor union.
California, Massachusetts, New York (downstate only), Maryland, New Jersey, Illinois, Connecticut, Florida, Delaware, and Nebraska have passed laws that gradually raise their state minimum wage to at least $15 per hour.
[9][10][11] On February 27, 2021, the Democratic-controlled House passed the American Rescue Plan pandemic relief package, which included a gradual minimum wage increase to $15 per hour.
[13] On November 29, 2012, over 100 fast-food workers from McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, Domino's, Papa John's, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut walked off their jobs in New York City, New York in strike for higher wages, better working conditions and the right to form a union without retaliation from their managers.
[20] The strike was organized by over 40 personnel from New York Communities for Change, Service Employees International Union, UnitedNY, and the Black Institute.
[27] On December 6, 2013, further fast food strikes occurred nationwide in a campaign aimed at raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour.
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) voiced his support for the striking workers and a $15 an hour federal minimum wage at a Fight for $15 rally in Washington DC.
[43] The strikes took place in 230 cities as workers demanded a $15 minimum wage and the right to unionize without fear of retaliation.
[44] Less than a week later, a mass protest at McDonald's headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois took place and resulted in over 100 protesters being arrested, including workers, church leaders and Service Employees International Union president Mary Kay Henry, and a partial shutdown of the McDonald's campus.
Backers of the movement for higher pay point to studies saying that the average age of fast food workers is 29 and that more than one-fourth are parents raising children.
[47] According to Mary Kay Henry, the president of service employees international union "fast food workers in many other parts of the world face the same corporate policy.
However, some analysts at conservative think tanks say that increasing the wages will have harmful consequences on the hiring rate which could cause a large number of unemployed people.
According to John Schmitt of the Center for Economic and Policy Research: "We see from Denmark that it's possible to run a profitable fast-food business while paying workers these kinds of wages."
"[55] A January 2015 study by economists at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst found that fast food companies could absorb an incremental wage hike from $7.25 to $15 without shedding jobs by reducing turnover and slightly increasing prices.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, restaurants and other food services employ about sixty percent of all workers paid at or below the minimum wage, as of 2018.
[57] Common responses to minimum wage increases include restaurant operators cutting employee hours and raising menu prices.
[59] Politicians, economists, restaurant owners and workers continue to debate the economic viability and benefits of a federally mandated $15 minimum wage.
[61] While most advocates acknowledge rising prices as a result of the higher wages, they generally accept this outcome and believe it will not have a major negative impact on dining/overall sales.
Advocates for the movement also point to research that finds the average estimated employment effect of minimum wage increases to be very small.
[65][66] As pressure grows, more stores are increasing their hourly rates both to satisfy political/social demands, while also benefiting from happier, more productive workers.
[70] Former McDonald's CEO and President Ed Rensi cited the Fight for $15 movement as the reason for the installation of automated ordering kiosks at the chain's restaurants nationwide, which he says is an example of higher minimum wages causing unemployment.
[71] Increased automation is treated as a benefit of a higher minimum wage by some advocates,[72] and economists generally view automation as a net positive because it increases labor productivity and allows employers to pay higher wages to workers because they are shifted to higher-value tasks.
Other businesses, including Amazon.com,[73] have voluntarily pledged to pay workers no less than $15 per hour (though through Amazon Robotics the company is also investing heavily in automation).
Observers say businesses do this to reduce turnover and training costs, to compete for quality workers in a tight labor market, and to avoid negative publicity.
Other critics claim that an increased minimum wage would accelerate the speed of automation and displacement of minimum wage jobs, as employers replace low-skilled workers with machines, AI, and self-driving vehicles in common job sectors: retail, fast food service, call centers, trucking, and accounting.
[83] In March 2019, both Maryland and Illinois have explicitly passed laws or statutes on the process of "gradually increases over several years" raising their state minimum wage to at least $15 per hour.
As of December 2014, unions were exempt from recent minimum wage increases in Chicago, SeaTac, Washington, and Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, as well as the California cities of Los Angeles, Long Beach, San Jose, Richmond, and Oakland.
In San Francisco, a labor union may be exempt if its collective bargaining agreement explicitly waives the minimum wage requirement.
