Washington - Thousands of Americans have taken to the street this year to
march for women's equality, environmental issues and an overhaul of the
president's immigration policies. Now for the first time, the anti-Trump
resistance movement is setting its sights on a corporation: McDonald's.
Organizers from the Women's March, MoveOn and the Bernie
Sanders campaign spin-off Our Revolution, will join forces on Tuesday to march
from Trump Tower in downtown Chicago to The Rock N Roll McDonald's a half-mile
away. Their goal: To rally the fast-food giant and the country's second-largest
employer to pay an hourly minimum wage of $15, and to allow its workers to
unionize.
"McDonald's, frankly, is the Donald Trump of
corporations," said Kendall Fells, organizing director of the Fight for
$15, a labour movement backed by the Service Employees International Union,
which is leading the effort. "There's no way to resist Donald Trump
without resisting the corporations that are bringing us all down."
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Representatives for McDonald's did not immediately respond
to emails seeking comment.
The "March on McDonald's," as it is being called,
is backed by a number of progressive groups including the Movement for Black
Lives, Colour of Change and Patriotic Millionaires, a group of wealthy individuals
headed by former Blackrock executive Morris Pearl. About 10 000 demonstrators
are expected to take part on Tuesday, Fells said.
The following day, marchers will head to McDonald's annual
shareholders meeting at its headquarters in Oak Brook, Ill.,
to continue their efforts. Hundreds of fast-food cooks and cashiers are
expected to protest at McDonald's stores throughout the United States.
"Labour rights are women's rights," Carmen Perez,
co-chair of the Women's March, said in an email."
The link between the
gender justice and labour justice movements is strong but often unacknowledged.
Women's March is proud to join others to rise up against unfair labour
practices, economic exploitation and workplace sexual harassment.
These fights are our fights, and the only way we win is
together."
Next week's march comes after years of heated protests at
McDonald's shareholder meetings. For the past three years, widespread
demonstrations have led the company to close down its headquarters the day
before its annual meeting.
undefinedLast year, hundreds camped outside the company's
headquarters in protest. McDonald's has nearly 37 000 restaurants around the
world that employ about 375 000 people, making it the world's fourth-largest
employer.
Since 2012, a number of cities and states, including California and New York
as well as Seattle
have passed measures requiring an hourly minimum wage of $15. Washington, DC,
last summer approved legislation that would raise the city's minimum wage to
$15 an hour by 2020.
A number of companies, including Facebook, Aetna
and Nationwide Insurance, have announced plans to raise worker pay to at least
$15 per hour.
President Donald Trump, for his part, has spoken out against
an hourly minimum wage of $15.
"If we're going to compete with other countries,"
he told Fox News in 2015, "we can't do that because the wages would be too
high."
WASHINGTON POST