Portside

Workers who bore the brunt of the Covid pandemic at billion-dollar companies such as Dollar General, McDonald’s and Wendy’s are leading a surge in action.

Between 2019 and 2021, the overall percentage of U.S. union members stayed flat. But the percentage of workers ages 25-34 who are union members rose from 8.8% to 9.4%, or around 68,000 workers, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

McDonald’s has long portrayed itself as a champion of black uplift through black ownership of its franchises. But McDonald’s version of black capitalism, like the idea of black capitalism as a whole, has only ever benefited the few, not the many.

Karesha Manns is a McDonald's worker in Memphis, Tennessee, in the city where Dr. King was fighting for a living wage when he was assassinated. She makes just $10 an hour; nowhere near enough to cover basic necessities.

If successful, the bill would mark a historic shift in labor law. Millions of low-wage workers across the country would be directly impacted, losing a key mechanism to protect their rights on the job, while corporations which regularly escape liability would gain protections.