As the economy opened up to women a half century ago, one in three working women was an office employee. As the clerical workforce grew by leaps and bounds, so did a sense of injustice among the women, leading to the founding of the 9 to 5 Movement.
With issues like pay, benefits, paid sick time, paid family leave, minimum staffing levels, schedule flexibility, mental health, and workplace safety becoming increasingly urgent in the pandemic, women have emerged as union leaders as never before.
The message was clear: The Janus ruling — as well as the prospect of more rulings against labor as President Trump seeks to install Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court — was another political attack on organized labor that unions would overcome.
The Service Employee International Union, along with other public sector and service industry unions, was not invited to President Trump's meeting with certain union leaders. Its President Mary Kay Henry expects to be hit hard by Trump's cuts. She hopes by expanding the Fight for $15 campaign support for unions will broaden.
A $10 million effort backed by the Service Employees International Union and billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer will involve intense door-knocking and phone banking in working-class communities, with an emphasis on engaging African Americans, Asian Americans and Latinos around the issues of economic inequality and environmental degradation. The initiative part of a broader effort to expand collaboration between the labor movement and environmental activists.
Fast food workers earn 1,200 times less than CEOs, the widest disparity of any U.S. economic sector. McDonald’s employees make about $8.25 per hour on average before taxes, and the corporation tacitly acknowledges it pays poverty wages. The company drew flak last year for a website that advised its employees to budget by spending nothing on keeping their homes warm, finding a place to live that costs less than $600 a month and spending $20 a month on health insurance.
Fast-food workers one day strike spreads to many cities. Workers at MacDonald's, Taco Bell, Popeye's, Long John Silver's and other restaurants hold one day strike demanding higher wages.
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