US workers strike for a living wage
Julie Sherry joined a delegation from the British bakers’ union to support a day of strikes by US fast food workers in North Carolina.
The movement of thousands of fast food workers in a series of strikes, spanning 150 cities across the US, has captured the eye of the international media. It’s easy to see why. The movement symbolises something incredible — non-unionised workers, those on the lowest pay, many of them black, many of them parents living in poverty, who work in the most difficult conditions with no job security — have now lost their fear.
The strikes raise questions about the power of the working class today and the challenges facing the trade union movement.