Strikes to hit 100 U.S. cities
Fast-food workers walking out to protest for higher wages,
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK The United States faces a wave of strikes by its fast-food workers Thursday, a day after Barack Obama warned that inequality in the country had reached to the point that it posed “a fundamental threat to the American dream.”
Low-paid workers in McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken and other fast-food outlets in 100 cities across the U.S. were due to start rolling strikes in protest at the low level of the country’s $7.25 US an hour federal minimum wage.
The strikes are the latest part of a publicity campaign for higher wages among those working in so-called “McJobs.” Fast-food restaurants are seen as a pressure point that highlights the question of income inequality.
Last week, during the annual Black Friday Thanksgiving shopping day, U.S. labour organizers said workers staged walkouts and protests at 1,500 Walmart stores, calling for the company to raise wages and improve conditions.
Obama recently supported Democrat calls for a $10.10 minimum wage, which was voted down by Republicans in Congress last March, but which campaigners say is the bare minimum needed for a single worker to survive.
Obama said Wednesday that since the 1970s, the “basic bargain” at the heart of the U.S. economy — work hard, get ahead — had been “frayed” by global economic forces that opened the door to union-busting, outsourcing and corporate greed.
“( There) is a dangerous and growing inequality and lack of upward mobility that has jeopardized middle-class America’s basic bargain that if you work hard, you have a chance to get ahead,” he said.
“I believe this is the defining challenge of our time: making sure our economy works for every working American.”
‘Whereas in the past, the average CEO made about 20 to 30 times the income of the average worker, today’s CEO now makes 273 times more.’
BARACK OBAMA U.S. president
Framing his call for higher wages with historical references, Obama cited the upward mobility of Abraham Lincoln, whose father lived in a log cabin; Teddy Roosevelt’s fight for an eight-hour working day; and Lyndon Johnson’s introduction of the Medicare and Medicaid health care programs.
He echoed the arguments of campaigners who claim that productivity gains by U.S. workers, which have more than doubled since 1968, have not been passed on to workers, while pay for chief executives has risen sharply.
“The top 10 per cent no longer takes in one-third of our income; it now takes half,” he said.
“Whereas in the past, the average CEO made about 20 to 30 times the income of the average worker, today’s CEO now makes 273 times more.”
The call for greater equality and fairer pay, which was at the heart of Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign, is also set to be a key battleground of next year’s 2014 midterm elections.
Polls suggest 80 per cent of Americans want to see a higher minimum wage.