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N&O: Raise the minimum wage, lift the economy

Jeremy Sprinkle
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Fight for $15 has changed the conversation

There's a great editorial in the April 6th edition of the News & Observer calling for an increase in the minimum wage:

A higher minimum wage does not cause runaway losses for businesses. What it does do is put more money in people’s pockets, some of it income they’ll actually be able to spend — at other businesses. It puts more workers in the active economy, not just barely scraping by once bills are paid.

Source: Raise the minimum wage, lift the economy | News & Observer

While the newspaper credits Democrats like presidential candidates Bernie Sanders, who supports a $15/hr minimum, and, to a lesser extent, Hillary Clinton, who supports a $12/hr minimum, the real impetus for these wage increases is the massive movement of working people who, since the first fast-food strike in New York City in 2012, have joined the Fight for $15 and a union nationwide - including Raise Up for $15 in North Carolina.

Last week the Fight for $15 scored its largest victories yet when both California and New York enacted laws to raise their states' minimum wage to $15/hr.

“California! New York! Pittsburgh! Fifteen dollars an hour is catching on everywhere,” declared Jorel Ware, a McDonald’s worker from New York City and member of the Fight for $15. “When we first went on strike in New York in 2012, people said we had no chance, but we are showing the whole country that when workers stick together, there’s no such thing as impossible.”

Join April 14th global strike and protest for $15/hr and union rights

Next week, working people in North Carolina will join others from across the nation and the world to call for $15/hour everywhere with strikes in cities across the state, culminating in a public rally in Durham.

What: April 14 strike and rally for $15 and union rights

When5:00 PM, Thursday, April 14

Where: McDonald’s, 102 E Morgan St, Durham, NC 27701

Who: Underpaid fast-food, home care, and child care workers and university faculty, joined by union members and community supporters

RSVP: on Facebook for our rally April 14th in Durham!