Sen. Bernie Sanders leaves after speaking as protesters gather at a 'Fight for $15' rally, on Capitol Hill, Apr. 22, 2015. | Getty $15 minimum wage movement to vote on organizing mass fast-food worker strike The Fight for $15 group is holding its first-ever convention this weekend, where it aims to plot a course forward for its advocacy.

The “Fight for $15” minimum wage movement will hold its first-ever convention Saturday, where roughly 3,000 who will vote on a resolution calling for mass strikes among fast-food workers nationwide.

Thousands of members of the movement head to Richmond, Va. this weekend, and among the items on the agenda is a resolution that would call on the organization to organize the fast-food strikes and a string of accompanying homecare and childcare worker protests.


In the past, protests at presidential primary debates drew thousands of supporters of the movement. At its convention this weekend, the group will discuss how to continue its advocacy through the November election.

The organization’s last major strike was April 14, and thousands across more than 320 U.S. cities walked out on their jobs. Supporters in more than 40 countries, including Brazil, Japan, Canada, the United Kingdom and Nigeria also stood in solidarity with the group.

The convention, and potential attempt to organize the mass protest, come as the movement works to build off its success in the Democratic primary. While the group has not officially endorsed any political candidates, as thousands of members of the Fight for $15 began striking and organizing for $15 minimum wages four years ago, it captured the attention of Bernie Sanders, who successfully fought to get the resolution added to the Democratic party’s official platform.

And lawmakers in several states have moved toward its recommendations. As of the start of this year, 29 states have passed laws to increase hourly wages above the federal minimum of $7.29. And cities including New York and Washington D.C. plan to incrementally raise minimum wages to $15 over the next few years, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Fight for $15 has a strong ally: Mary Kay Henry, international president of the Service Employees International Union, who’s supported the group since its first strike in New York on November 29, 2012. With more than 2 million members in the SEIU, Henry said she’s proud that the attendees of the convention will include members from industries beyond fast food, including nail salon, grocery store, cell phone company workers and truck drivers.

“The thing that's most impressive to me … is the absolute courage and fearlessness that people have of taking very dramatic actions on their own behalf and that action has resulted in 20 million people getting wage increases, either through collective bargaining or minimum wage initiatives or state legislatures and city councils,” Henry said. “And we can make that possible through collective action.”

Fight for $15 also has support from leading figures in the civil rights movement.

Rep. John Lewis (D-Georgia) also joined Atlanta fast-food workers on a strike line in August 2013. The next year, the NAACP formally passed a resolution to support for the Fight for $15.

Rev. William Barber, president of the North Carolina NAACP, will be a keynote speaker for the convention and lead a march, which organizers expect more than 10,000 participants — both members and allies — will join.

And it’s no coincidence that Richmond, the former capital of the Confederacy, was chosen for the convention, according to Terrence Wise, a 3-year member and organizer for Fight for $15. It stands as a symbolic location that is deeply rooted racial and economic issues pervasive throughout the U.S. since it was once the former capital of the Confederacy, he added.

Wise said The Fight for $15 Movement is about more than just about improving stagnant wages and unionization, it’s for racial equality — two issues that intersect because of the economic disparities faced by people of color in the U.S. This convention has been “a long time coming” for Wise since the group's inception four years ago.

“People don’t understand the Civil Rights Movement isn’t just for civil rights, it’s for economic equality as well,” Wise said. “So we’re just carrying on the tradition of the Civil Rights Movement, the poor people’s campaign, the abolitionist movement. We’re carrying that torch today as well. So we're fighting for racial and economic equality. You can’t have one without the other. I don’t want to have $15 and still have to walk down the street and have a high percentage of being harassed by the police, so you’ve got to have racial and economic equality as well.”

Not everyone, however, is so excited about the movement’s goals. Among economists, there is a fierce internal debate about whether the minimum wage limits the total number of available jobs, either by making it more costly for employers to hire new workers or because they become more likely to replace workers by way of automation. Other economists, however, contend that a raise in the minimum wage produces no discernible cut in the availability of jobs, but does boost employee morale and productivity — and each side of the argument has produced volumes of research in support of their position.

Kelly Klass, media manager for the National Federation of Independent Business, said supporters of a wage hike aren’t taking small business owners into account. Klass said a government-mandated wage increase would put many of NFIB’s member in a bind, as many members have 20 or less employees. “Most of our members already pay more than the minimum wage,” Klass said. “If our members can pay more, they actually will. It’s not that they don’t want to pay their employees, they can’t. If they can pay their employees more then they will. They do.”

Wise, who works at both Burger King and McDonalds to support his three daughters, sees it differently. An average work day is more than 16 hours for him and when he comes home, his children are already in bed. It’s about more than money, he argued. A wage increase would allow him to spend more time with his family and provide them with the “simple” pleasures of visiting the zoo, buying new bikes and new shoes for the school year. Not providing them with these things reminds him of his own upbringing.

“Now my past is looking like my kid’s future,” Wise said. “That’s not good.”