U.S. workers strike against racial inequality
During ‘Strike for Black Lives,’ hundreds walk off job, demand higher wages
NEW YORK— Hundreds of workers rallied Monday outside the Trump International Hotel in Manhattan and in cities across the U.S. to protest systemic racism and economic inequality, joining a nationwide demonstration demanding improvement of Black Americans’ experiences in the workplace.
Organizers hoped the effort would grow into a strike inspiring tens of thousands of people to walk off the job. But visible support for the effort came largely in the form of smaller protests that drew people whose jobs in health care, transportation and food service do not allow them to work from home during the coronavirus pandemic.
The “Strike for Black Lives” protest was organized by labour unions and social and racial justice organizations, which planned a range of actions in more than two dozen U.S. cities. Where work stoppages were not possible for a full day, participants picketed during a lunch break or observed moments of silence to honour Black lives lost to police violence, organizers said.
About 1,500 janitors in San Francisco walked off their jobs and planned to lead a march, according to Fight for $15, a labour group that supports raising the U.S. minimum wage. McDonald’s cooks and cashiers in Los Angeles and nursing home workers in St. Paul were also striking. Participants in local rallies included delivery workers, fast food employees, ride-share and airport workers.
Glen Brown, a 48-year-old wheelchair agent at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport for nearly five years, said his job does not give him the option of social distancing. Brown and fellow workers called for a $15 (U.S.) minimum wage during an event, and he said workers were “seizing our moment” to seek change. “We are front-line workers, (and) we are risking our lives, but we’re doing it at a wage that doesn’t even match the risk,” Brown said.
In Manhattan, more than 150 union workers rallied outside Trump International Hotel to demand that the Senate and President Donald Trump adopt the Heroes Act, which provides protective equipment, essential pay and extended unemployment benefits to workers who cannot work from home. It has already been passed by the House.
“Today, we’re here to demand from those in power, including the man whose name adorns the building, that it’s time to dismantle white supremacy and combat police brutality,” said Kyle Bragg, president of 32BJ, a union representing more than 170,000 office janitors, security workers and doormen on the East Coast. “Until we have racial justice, we cannot have economic, climate or immigrant justice,” Bragg said.
In Massachusetts, about 200 people, including health-care workers, janitors and other essential employees, joined Democratic candidates for Senate in front of the Boston statehouse.
“We’re just being overworked and underpaid, and it makes you sometimes lose your compassion,” said Toyai Anderson, 44, who planned to walk off her job as a nursing aide for two hours at Hartford Nursing and Rehab Center in Detroit. “It makes me second guess if I am sure this is my calling.”
After 13 years on the job, Anderson makes $15.75 an hour. Nationally, the typical nursing aide makes $13.38, according to health-care worker advocacy group PCI, and one in four nursing home workers is Black.
Hundreds of other workers were expected to walk off their jobs at six Detroit nursing homes, according to the Service Employees International Union. The workers are demanding higher wages and more safety equipment to keep them from catching and spreading the virus, as well as better health-care benefits and paid sick leave.
Participants broadly demanded action by corporations and government to confront systemic racism and economic inequality that limits mobility and career advancement for many Black and Hispanic workers, who make up a disproportionate number of those earning less than a living wage.
Specifically, organizers called on corporate leaders and elected government officials to use executive and legislative power to guarantee people of all races can thrive. That demand includes raising wages and allowing workers to unionize to negotiate better health care, sick leave and child care support.