US fast-food workers lead day of protest for 15/hour

[inanna]

Source: AFP

November 29, 2016

New York (AFP) - Workers from fast-food chains, airports and other service industries were to rally in US cities Tuesday as part of a nationwide day of disruption to demand union rights and a minimum wage of $15 an hour.

In New York, a group of 500 that included airport and taxi workers joined a union-backed "Fight For 15" march before a McDonald's restaurant near Wall Street.

Demonstrators briefly blocked Broadway before police arrested about 20 of them, with other rallies expected in Chicago, Los Angeles and Fort Lauderdale in the state of Florida.

Workers slated to join in included cabin cleaners, luggage handlers and other staff at O'Hare, LAX and Fort Lauderdale airports. However, flights were not expected to be disrupted.



Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-fast-food-workers-lead-day-protest-15-183907701.html

[bucolic_frolic]

1. I would be surprised

if these issues went away quietly

There is discord ahead that will surprise inside Washington

Self-determination burns strongly in Americans hearts and minds

[Grey Lemercier]

2. good luck with that one

Child labour laws need loosening says group funded by Trump's education secretary

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/child-labour-laws-need-loosening-says-group-funded-by-trumps-education-secretary-1593220


BUILD THAT WALL

[LisaM]

3. And yet we (as consumers) continue to support the gig economy

and workers and consumers continue to be indifferent to the weakening of labor unions. If labor hadn't been so drastically weakened, I think wages would have kept better pace.

And the gig economy is creating a whole new underclass of workers. For the life of me, I can't see why people support it.

[pinboy3niner]

4. Fight for 15 Protesters Taken Into Custody After Blocking Downtown L.A. Intersection

Posted 6:33 AM, November 29, 2016, by Anthony Kurzweil, CNN Wire and Jennifer Gould, Updated at 08:23am

Several "Fight for 15" protesters were taken into custody Tuesday morning after members of the group sat and blocked an intersection in downtown Los Angeles.

Hundreds of activists began marching outside a McDonald's in downtown Los Angeles early Tuesday before a smaller group sat down and blocked the East 7th Street and Alameda Street intersection just before 7 a.m.

...

About 40 people were taken into custody for failure to disperse, said Los Angeles Police Department Detective Megan Aguilar.

Those who can show valid identification and be verified will be cited and released, but those who cannot will be booked and jailed, Aguilar said.

...

Video at link:
http://ktla.com/2016/11/29/fight-for-15-protesters-march-outside-downtown-l-a-mcdonalds/

[inanna]

7. Wow.

Being reported on Reuters also.

Scores arrested in first 'Fight for $15' protest since Trump win

Thanks for the update, might need it's own thread.

[Hortensis]

5. Good for them. Can't help wondering, though,

how many around the nation voted against Democrats and national minimum wage increases, or didn't bother to vote. As it is, the hyenas are taking over the control room, and hyenas only have one use for chickens.

[LisaM]

6. Probably bingo on the didn't bother to vote.

Millennials supposedly had low turnout, though I haven't checked lately as more number pour in.

[Hortensis]

8. Well, it's a giant civics lesson for all of us, but

who'll explain it to those who don't read?

Did you hear Trump wants to start prosecuting flag burning again? Apparently he expects to need various distractions to divert attention and anger from what his administration's doing. More than just persecuting Hilllary. I feel for the young people, those who didn't vote included. Now they don't just have to wish they could afford college but will likely get to worry about being villified, attacked by police, and jailed for expressing their opinions.

We are now beyond doubt the WORST generation... By far.

[LisaM]

9. No, because we do continue to make progress.

Despite all efforts to hold it back - we did manage to accomplish gay marriage, healthcare (even though it's threatened), higher wages in some areas, and other things that are happening on the state and local levels that we probably aren't even all aware of yet. It's the forces arrayed against us that delay progress. It's not just a generational thing.

I know that the WWII generation stepped up to the plate as far as the war, but they were also the people who turned a blind eye as Japanese-Americans (sometimes their own neighbors) were incarcerated, kept Jim Crow alive, and a host of other things people wouldn't be proud of now. The Bush family did business with the Nazis.

Every generation has its challenges. I don't really like pitting generations against each other (I'm really tired of millennials telling me I'm the problem when my footprint on this earth has been very light). I have a bigger problem with people who don't vote (unless they are being suppressed) than almost anything and this time around, it was millennials who participated at a low level, as they did in the UK for the Brexit vote. Hopefully they'll step up to the plate in other ways.

[Hortensis]

10. I've always believed that, LisaM, and it can

still be true. But support for liberal democracies around the planet has been dropping as support for authoritarian fascistic alternatives has been growing.

Many, many factors are involved, of course, but as I was pointing out on another thread, social scientists have found that the hotter the climate, the more conservative populations tend to be, and we are in an era of constantly record-breaking heat increases. Also disappearing fresh water supplies over many huge regions, wars and broken economies as a result, millions of refugees, massive xenophobia.

Also disappearing work with a black hole where an image of the future should be--not frightening to me, I figure WE will use OUR government to transition to a new system in which we can all be acceptably prosperous, but over 30 million Americans literally see all this and believe we're in End Times, and even more are scared they won't even have that escape from disaster.

We should have won this election, and, yes, disastrous conservative state and federal governments this time can set us up to get power in 2018 and 2012 and continue doing what we have to. But I am worried as I never was before that our continued upward progress may instead be reversed and wiped out for decades. That the dog-eat-dog meanness of the last 2 decades may only be a hint of the future.

Reminds me of a Samantha Bee skit where she shows a supposed post-election newspaper headline trumpeting that Trump lost big to basic human decency and asks "what happened!" Basic human decency for seculars on the right and the teachings of Jesus for the religious right were both routed in this election. A very bad sign.