海角大神

I spent several days in New York last week with students from around the country who were preparing to head into the heartland to help organize Walmart workers for better jobs and wages. (Full familial disclosure: My son Adam is one of the leaders.)

Almost exactly fifty years ago a similar group headed to Mississippi to register African-Americans to vote, in what came to be known as Freedom Summer.
Call this Freedom Summer II.

The current struggle of low-wage workers across America echoes the civil rights struggle of the 1960s.聽

Today, as then, a group of Americans聽is denied the dignity of decent wages and working conditions. Today, just as then, powerful forces are threatening and intimidating vulnerable people for exercising their legal rights. Today, just like fifty years ago, people who have been treated as voiceless and disposable are standing up and demanding change.

Although Walmart is no Bull Connor, it鈥檚 the poster child for keeping low-wage workers down. America鈥檚 largest employer, with 1.4 million workers, refuses to provide most of them with an income they can live on. The vast majority earns聽聽a year, with an average hourly wage of about $8.80.

You and I and other taxpayers shell out for these workers鈥� Medicaid and food stamps because they and their families can鈥檛 stay afloat on what Walmart pays. (I鈥檝e often thought Walmart and other big employers should have to pay a tax equal to the public assistance their workers receive because the companies don鈥檛 pay them enough to stay out of poverty.)

Walmart won鈥檛 even allow workers to organize for better jobs and wages. In January, the National Labor Relations Board issued a聽聽accusing it of unlawfully threatening or retaliating against workers who have taken part in strikes and protests.聽

The firm says it can鈥檛 afford to give its workers a raise or better hours and working conditions. Baloney. Walmart is America鈥檚 biggest retailer. Its policies are pulling every other major retailer into the same race to the bottom. If Walmart halted the race, the race would stop.

Don鈥檛 worry about its investors. Its largest is the Walton family, whose combined wealth is greater than the combined wealth of the bottom聽聽of the entire American population.

This week, Walmart employees will go on strike in dozens of cities. A group of 鈥淲almart Moms鈥� is also marching for better hours and better treatment of pregnant women employees. And聽an employee group has sent a聽and voting guide to shareholders asking that they vote against Rob Walton鈥檚 re-election as chair.

Walmart isn鈥檛 the only place where low-wage workers are on the move. Two weeks ago, 2,000 protesters gathered at McDonald鈥檚 corporate headquarters in suburban Chicago to demand a hike in the minimum wage and the right to form a union without retaliation. More than 100 were arrested.

Giant fast-food companies have the largest gap between the pay of CEOs and workers of any industry, with a CEO-to-worker compensation ratio of more than 1,000-to-one.

Meanwhile, across America, low-wage workers are demanding 鈥� and in many cases聽聽鈥� increases in the minimum wage. Despite Washington鈥檚 gridlock, seven states have raised their own minimums so far this year. A number of cities have also voted in minimum-wage increases.

The movement of low-wage workers for decent pay and working conditions is partly a reflection of America鈥檚 emerging low-wage economy. While low-wage industries such as retail and restaurant accounted for 22 percent of the jobs lost in the Great Recession, they鈥檝e generated 44 percent of the jobs added since then, according to a recent聽聽from the National Employment Law Project.聽

But the movement is also a moral struggle for decency and respect, and full participation in our economy and society. In these ways, it鈥檚 the civil rights struggle of our time.聽

It took guts to take on the power structure of Mississippi a half-century ago. It takes guts to take on the power structure of giant companies like Walmart and McDonalds now.

But confronting such powerful bastions is a vital step toward fundamental social change. Freedom Summer II is just the start.