Strike July 20 to highlight racism
All-day event planned in more than 25 cities
NEW YORK — A national coalition of labor unions, along with racial and social justice organizations, will stage a mass walkout from work this month, as part of an ongoing reckoning on systemic racism and police brutality in the U.S.
In what’s dubbed the “Strike for Black Lives,” tens of thousands of fast food, rideshare, nursing home and airport workers in more than 25 cities are expected to walk off the job July 20 for a full-day strike. Those who can’t strike for a full day will walk out for about eight minutes — the amount of time prosecutors say a white Minneapolis police officer held his knee on George Floyd’s neck — in remembrance of Black men and women who died recently at the hands of police.
The national strike will also include worker-led marches through participating cities, organizers said Wednesday.
According to details shared exclusively with The Associated Press, organizers are demanding sweeping action by corporations and government to confront systemic racism in an economy that chokes off economic mobility and career opportunities for many Black and Hispanic workers, who make up a disproportionate number of those earning less than a living wage.
They also stress the need for guaranteed sick pay, affordable health care coverage and better safety measures for low-wage workers who never had the option of working from home during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We have to link these fights in a new and deeper way than ever before,” said Mary Kay Henry, president of the Service Employees International Union, which represents over 2 million workers in the U.S. and Canada.
“Our members have been on a journey … to understanding why we cannot win economic justice without racial justice. This strike for
Black lives is a way to take our members’ understanding about that into the streets,” Henry told the AP.
Among the strikers’ specific demands are that corporations and government declare unequivocally that “Black lives matter.” Elected officials at every level must use executive and legislative power to pass laws that guarantee people of all races can thrive, according to a list of demands. Employers must also raise wages and allow workers to unionize to negotiate better health care, sick leave and child care support.
The service workers union has partnered with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the American Federation of Teachers, United Farm Workers and the Fight for $15 and a Union, which was launched in 2012 by American fast food workers to push for a higher minimum wage.
In other developments:
The president of the police union in Portland, Oregon, said Wednesday he has “no confidence” that city leaders will move to stop the nightly violent protests that have wracked the Northwest city. Downtown businesses in Portland have sustained about $23 million in damages and lost customers because of violent nightly protests that have brought the city to its knees, authorities said Wednesday.
Prosecutors on Wednesday filed three felony charges against the man who hit two protesters with his car, killing one, while driving on a Seattle freeway that was closed for Black Lives Matter demonstrations.
Tyler Perry has offered to pay the funeral expenses for an 8-yearold girl who was fatally shot in Atlanta over the weekend, a representative for the actor and filmmaker confirmed Wednesday.
Work crews have taken down the Confederate Soldiers and Sailors statue, the sixth Confederate monument to be removed in Richmond, Virginia, amid national protests against police brutality and symbols many see as racist icons.
The faculty at a New Hampshire law school bearing the name of the state’s only president, Franklin Pierce, have voted to support removing him from its title, weeks after students raised concerns about Pierce’s ties to slavery. Pierce, the country’s 14th president, served from 1853 to 1857. He never owned slaves and expressed moral opposition to slavery, but he was concerned with keeping the nation unified and opposed steps to stop slavery.
A high school in North Carolina will change its mascot and nickname. Parkwood High School outside of Charlotte will no longer be called the Rebels. The Charlotte Observer reported that the Union County school board voted to make the change and find a news mascot.