Fight for $15 and a Union Across California Cities
All in Favor of Raising the Minimum Wage, Start Marching
Advocates in favor of raising the minimum wage will take to the streets Wednesday in cities across the country. In L.A. a march will take place downtown, beginning at Figueroa and 28th streets at 11 a.m. (We Care LA—a coalition to support in-home caregivers, low-wage seniors, and people with disabilities—held a likeminded walk and rally along with members of a local union for caregivers in Grand Park, meanwhile, today.)
San Francisco Wins a Battle in the Fight For $15
Lost in the hullabaloo of the 2014 midterm elections, in which two more states (and Washington D.C.) voted to legalize marijuana and four traditionally red states voted to raise their minimum wages, was that the west coast liberal bastion of San Francisco will also be seeing a minimum wage bump — all the way to $15 per hour. Normally this would have been much bigger news, but it was seemingly left out of the national narrative as there were simply many other things going on, but it is sure to be huge news for the thousands of workers who will be getting a raise.
Teachers and Students Fight for 15
Last February, in the lead up to the National Adjunct Day of Action, I noted in this column that, “most colleges in America run on the backs of adjunct instructors who don’t receive the same pay for the same work as do the shrinking pool of full-time faculty” and that the “Exploitation of contingent labor is not just a problem for employees at Starbucks, Walmart, and fast food chains where workers are fighting for $15 an hour; it is an epidemic in the academy as well.”
During that day of protest, Fight for 15 organizers stood with us and this week, on 4/15 at 4 PM at Scripps Cottage on San Diego State University’s campus, we will stand with them as teachers and students from across the city will come together with workers, community activists, people of faith, and others to call for basic fairness and economic justice for all working people.