Women rally to call for higher minimum wage
Sisterhood lends support in struggle to live on low pay
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Mary Payne, a 76-yearold Memphis caregiver, tries to juggle her bills. She pays her rent and then turns to her utility bill.
“I can’t pay all the utility bill,” she said. “I have to pay half of it.”
Payne, in a white hat, turquoise top and white pants, joined dozens of women and allies Saturday to support the women’s committee of a Memphis campaign for higher wages. At the IBEW Local 474 hall on Madison near McLean, the women of the Sisterhood support group of Memphis’ Fight for $15 campaign served fried fish, okra, spaghetti and cake, and spoke of the issues that have an impact on women who try to survive on jobs that pay $7.25 and $8 an hour.
The Sisterhood support group formed in November to welcome and empower women, while offering development, fellowship and leadership opportunities. The women are working to raise the minimum wage and gain “the right to unionize without retaliation,” the group said in a flier.
The Sisterhood group also has done service work by cutting grass and doing cleanups.
In addition to helping workers, Payne said a wage of $15 per hour could help business in Memphis. “When you pay more, you get better help,” she said.
Jamie Merritt, 20, said expenses such as feminine products can be unaffordable when relying on paychecks from minimumwage jobs, even though “we work our butt off.”
The women’s committee group has been a place for the workers to support one another, and pregnant workers in particular spoke of mistreatment by managers.
When one of the women was feeling down, she asked other group members to meet and “we uplifted her,” Merritt said.
Merritt’s mother, Dunetra Merritt, 42, works at a fast-food restaurant, traveling on public buses to and from work.
“It’s hard and stressful out here,” she said. “No hours. No money.”
For now, she lives paycheck to paycheck.
They don’t expect to be rich if they earn $15 an hour, but “it would help me have a living wage,” Merritt said.
Mikelle Cathey has a visible mark on her left forearm from getting burned on a grill while working in fast food.
In the rush of making orders in the steamy kitchen at her previous job, workers were not allowed to stop for first aid, the 21-year-old said.
“They’ll tell you, ‘Go put mustard on it,’” she said. “‘Put butter on it.’”
Ashley Cathey, a 26-year-old fast-food worker who has campaigned nationally for Fight for $15, lives in East Memphis and works in Frayser. She said she tries to balance her transportation, electricity and rent bills.
“Then you gotta think about food,” she said. “It’s a struggle. That’s why I’m in the fight for $15.”
For more information, email iammemphis15@ gmail.com or visit the Memph15 Facebook page.