Detroit fast-food workers strike for $15-an-hour wage

Fast-food restaurant chains — and some of their favorite mascots — took it on the chin today as hundreds of protestors rallied in Detroit and nationally against low wages and benefits paid to workers.

About 200 workers protested in the dark outside a west-side McDonald's this morning as cold rain fell. And around 4 p.m. today, around 300 protesters converged on the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center downtown to bring the message directly to elected officials in Detroit.

"I'm here to fight for $15 and a union," said Lakecha Jackson, 37, a Detroit mother of two young daughters who earns $8 an hour and has been working at the McDonald's at 15501 Plymouth where the protesters earlier gathered. "That would be a lot for me."

The afternoon protest set up a battle between an oversized puppet of Ronald McDonald going up against a puppet version of Detroit’s iconic Joe Louis fist, holding $15.

As the crowd cheered, the fist knocked out Ronald McDonald with five good hits.

It was an epic piece of protest theater, but at-large City Councilwoman Janee Ayers underscored the seriousness of the fight for higher wages.

“I’m a union member, I’m a person who comes from hospitality, so I know how hard your job is,” she said. “At the end of the day, this isn’t about $15. This is about fighting for what you are worth, and don’t forget that.”

Karrie Terry, 29, a McDonald’s employee who lives in Highland Park, said making $8.15 an hour isn’t enough to support her and her three children.

“My last check that I got was $194,” she said, saying a lack of hours keeps affecting her take-home pay. “If I’m working, I should be able to take care of my kids and my household.”

Organizers said the effort is their biggest-ever strike and has been joined by auto parts workers, farm workers, grocery clerks, package delivery drivers and health care workers. It is timed, organizers added, a year in advance of the presidential election and aimed to grab headlines and get the attention of candidates running for office.

"We want the elected officials to know, if they don't stand with the 54,000-plus fast-food workers, we're not going to stand with them," said the Rev. W.J. Rideout III, a Detroit activist who has been a part of leading the protesters for more than three years. "We're mobilizing to let elected officials know, if they do not stand for fast-food workers, we're not going to elect them to office when it's time to vote again."

The group representing the workers nationally, Fight for $15, said protests are set to take place in fast-food restaurants in 270 cities, the most since it began organizing the demonstrations three years ago.

Barbara Fick, a labor law professor at the University of Notre Dame, said the ripple effects are from the movement seem to be leading to change and are now moving into the arena of political action.

"Low-wage workers are beginning to see that together they can have an impact on how the system works," she said. "Given the focus by some presidential candidates on 'income inequality' the movement may have the corollary effect of energizing workers, who in the past did not regularly exercise their right to vote, to believe they can influence the system and may lead to increased voter turnout in the upcoming presidential election."

The strikes and protests are being staged in other key election states such as Ohio and Florida; and they also are scheduled in places such as New York, where workers have been successful in achieving a minimum wage of $15 an hour.

In metro Detroit, activists have demonstrated several times in more than three years with some protests ending with police dispersing frustrated demonstrators. The group has targeted national fast-food restaurants such as McDonald's, Wendy's and Taco Bell and are calling for improving working conditions and wages.

Inside the McDonald's this morning, employees declined comment as they served customers.

While waiting for the bus to take her daughter to school, Sheila Reese ordered a coffee and bantered with the employees.

"Why aren't you all out there?" the 53-year-old Detroiter shouted through the thick, protective glass window at order counter. "They could afford to pay you all a little more. You need more money."

Many restaurant owners — and other employers — have responded to demonstrators' demands for more pay by saying their businesses are especially price-sensitive and significantly increasing wages would be challenging. In addition, they said, wage hikes would result in higher costs to their customers and lost jobs.

Economists have been divided over whether raising the minimum wage would make it harder for low-skilled workers to find employment and whether it would be a beneficial to the economy.

A survey for the Employment Policies Institute conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center and released this month showed that nearly three-quarters of the economists who responded oppose a federal minimum wage of $15 an hour and think it will hurt youth and adult employment.

The city hall rallies are aimed at putting political pressure on officials and candidates to support a $15 starting pay. The blitz today, the group said, is set to culminate with a protest by several thousand workers at the Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee.

Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have said they support a $12-$15 minimum wage and have focused on a divide between rich and poor. Most Republican contenders have said they support the current federal minimum of $7.25 an hour, saying that increasing it will hurt job growth.

Today, Clinton tweeted: “Fast-food, home care, child care workers: Your advocacy is changing our country for the better. #Fightfor15 –H”. Sanders tweeted: “I stand with the thousands of workers on strike today to demand $15 and a union. #FightFor15”.

Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia have set minimum wages above the $7.25 federal level.

In May, Los Angeles voted to increase minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020, more than double the federal minimum wage. Seattle and San Francisco also passed laws that raise wages to $15 an hour over years, and Chicago passed an increase that gradually raises wages to $13.

Michigan's minimum wage is $8.15 an hour, up from $7.40 an hour. The state minimum wage is set to gradually increase to $8.50 an hour on Jan. 1, 2016, $8.90 an hour on Jan. 1, 2017 and $9.25 an hour on Jan. 1, 2018. The law allows employers to pay tipped workers and teens — 16-19 years old — less.

State law, however, prohibits Michigan municipalities from exceeding state or federal minimum wage requirements.

Organizers said they plan to be a political force and intend to mobilize many of the 64 million Americans who earn less than $15 an hour with voter-registration drives.

The issue could be a significant factor based on a poll by Harris interactive and YouGov for the National Employment Law Project, which showed that out of 48 million potential voters, nearly 70% of unregistered voters would sign up, and a similar share of registered voters would be more likely to go to the polls if there were a presidential candidate in favor of a $15 minimum wage and workers' right to unionize.

Last year, a national survey by the Pew Research Center showed 73% of people favored increasing the minimum wage.

Detroit is a city where labor protests — and calls for increasing pay — resonate.

In August, U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez visited Detroit, listening to workers — some in tears — tell him how little they earn and why they joined Fight for 15. Perez, along with Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and labor groups leaders, spoke passionately about raising wages.

Workers at the protest today echoed the concerns raised during the meeting with the labor secretary, saying that it is struggle to use their low income to care not just for themselves, but also for their kids.

"With $15 an hour, I will be able to take care of my family," Jackson said. "I will be able to take care of my bills and not worry about paying my rent — or buying food."

Free Press staff writer Matt Helms and USA TODAY contributed to this report.