Thousands march for US$15 hourly wages across United States
LOS ANGELES: Thousands of low-wage workers marched in New York, Los Angeles and other US cities on Thursday calling for minimum pay of US$15 an hour in a cause that has scored major legislative victories in California and New York state in recent weeks.
The union-backed ‘Fight for US$15’ campaign has expanded since its inception in 2012 from a movement mostly centered on the fast-food industry to encompass other low-wage sectors, such as home health care, retail outlets and hospitals.
Much of the attention in Thursday’s rallies, in what some organisers called a national day of action, was on McDonald’s Corp fast-food eateries, the world’s biggest restaurant chain by revenue.
Demonstrators said they want to get to a 15 minimum in any they can, whether that happens at the state or city level or even via individual companies.
In New York City, demonstrators rallied in Times Square and later protested outside a Republican gala featuring the party’s three candidates for the 2016 presidential race, while in Los Angeles protesters held aloft large balloons and marched behind a banner that read, ‘McJobs hurt us all’.
Governor Andrew Cuomo spoke at the rally in Times Square, on a day that also saw Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders express support for the marchers.
On the West Coast, organizers said more than 2,000 people marched through downtown Los Angeles.
Anggie Godoy, 20, a cashier at a McDonald’s in Los Angeles, said the campaign to raise wages must be national in scope. — Reuters