Minimum Wage Workers Keep Up The Fight For $15-An-Hour
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Fast food and home healthcare workers were rallying in the River North neighborhood early Thursday, hoping to keep the pressure on state lawmakers to raise the minimum wage.
Just two days after the City Council approved a measure to gradually increase Chicago's minimum wage to $13-an-hour by 2019, the workers demanded the Illinois General Assembly go even further, and approve a $15-an-hour minimum wage for the entire state.
The protesters said the city's minimum wage ordinance isn't good enough, and called on state lawmakers to impose a higher minimum wage.
The Illinois Senate has approved legislation that would raise the state's minimum wage to $11-an-hour by 2019, but the House has adjourned without addressing the minimum wage, and won't take up the issue until after a new General Assembly is sworn in next year.
The protesters included employees from McDonald's and Burger King, as well as home care workers.
"I believe in this movement. There's no way I should be making poverty wages after working for McDonald's for 23 years," said protester Tyree Johnson.
They arrived at the Rock N Roll McDonalds at 4:30 a.m.
A short time later, they marched across the street to the BP gas station, and chanted as the only overnight employee walked off the job. He shut down the station, and turned off the pumps.
Daryl Eatmonds said he knows he'll likely face consequences from his boss, but he said, "I have the right to do this."
"It's time for a change. Something needs to happen," he said.
Eatmonds said he knows some customers were disappointed to pull in and not be able to get gas, but he said they have other options.
"There are other gas stations that are open, but right now I'm on strike," he said.
After their rally outside the Rock N Roll McDonald's, the protesters planned to march to another McDonald's at 23 S. Clark St., and then to various other locations in the Loop where employees earn minimum wage.
Ald. Bob Fioretti (2nd), who is running for mayor against Mayor Rahm Emanuel in February, joined the protest in the Loop. He voted for the mayor's $13-an-hour minimum wage ordinance, but said he'll continue fighting for $15-an-hour.
"Thirteen dollars an hour is just pennies above poverty level," he said.
The protesters marched all over the Loop throughout the morning, stopping at several fast food restaurants, at times blocking sidewalks. At one point, a pedestrian and protesters got into an altercation along Dearborn, and police had to break up a fight.
In response to the protests, McDonald's said: "We respect everyone's right to peacefully protest. The topic of minimum wage goes well beyond McDonald's- it affects our country's entire workforce.
"McDonald's and our independent franchisees support paying our valued employees fair wages aligned with a competitive marketplace. We believe that any minimum wage increase should be implemented over time so that the impact on owners of small and medium-sized businesses – like the ones who own and operate the majority of our restaurants – is manageable. Additionally, we believe that any increase needs to be considered in a broad context, one that considers, for example, the impact of the Affordable Care Act and its definition of "full time" employment, as well as the treatment, from a tax perspective, of investments made by businesses owners.
"It's important to know approximately 90% of our U.S. restaurants are independently owned and operated by franchisees who set wages according to job level and local and federal laws. McDonald's does not determine wages set by our more than 3,000 U.S. franchisees."