Fight for $15: Can fast-food workers influence the presidential election?
A year away from the 2016 presidential election, US fast-food workers have launched a nationwide campaign Tuesday to demand a $15 national minimum wage along with union rights.
Supporters of the Fight for $15 campaign say Tuesday鈥檚 protest in New York will reverberate through rallies in , by workers throughout low-paying industries. But beyond this week鈥檚 protests, advocates hope to begin a yearlong campaign to prove their political importance in the 2016 election.
The Fight for $15 is funded by the Service Employees International Union, which represents 1.5 million workers, and the issue has captured the support of more than 48 million potential voters who support a $15 minimum wage. The campaign describes their low-paid workers as 鈥渁 voting bloc that can .鈥�
鈥淭hese low-wage workers are really interested in going out to the polls and supporting a candidate. This demographic is up for grabs,鈥� Yannet Lathrop, a researcher and policy analyst at the National Employment Law Project, told 海角大神 during a phone interview Tuesday. 鈥淭his is a section of the electorate that wants to be a part of the 2016 election.鈥�
The problem? These workers typically don鈥檛 vote.
A July 2015 suggests the percentage of Americans participating in elections has a direct correlation with annual income, with the richest Americans most likely to vote. The two groups with the lowest voter turnouts were those with incomes under $10,000 and those with incomes under $14,999, at 24.5 percent and 30.1 percent respectively.
And according to a National Employment Law Project survey, of America鈥檚 workers are paid less than $15 an hour, proving these minimum wage advocates could be a force to be reckoned with 鈥� that is, if they can be persuaded to vote.
Among the workers surveyed who were not registered to vote, said they would be more likely to register if there was a presidential candidate who guaranteed a $15 minimum wage and union rights.
Democratic presidential candidates Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Gov. Martin O鈥橫alley have for a $15 minimum wage while former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says she supports a $12 minimum wage. And as for the GOP candidates, they have mostly stayed mum on the subject or 鈥� making the timing of Tuesday鈥檚 protest, on the same day as a GOP debate, especially timely.
鈥淲hether it鈥檚 fast food, Walmart, child care, T-Mobile, all these people are paid too little to support their families,鈥� Angela Simler, an employee at a T-Mobile call center in Wichita, Kansas, told The Huffington Post. 鈥淭he wages for too long."聽
The Fight for $15 group says this year will be different 鈥� they will hold voter registration drives to help bring their supporters to the polls. 鈥淭hese workers are really starting to be engaged politically,鈥� Ms. Lanthrop told The Monitor.听
The national minimum wage was last raised from $6.55 to in July 2009. Before 2007 the national minimum wage remained at $5.15 for ten years.
But it is important to note that grassroots movements at the state and local level have already made progress. Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia have set their minimum wage above the federal level of $7.25 per hour, according to the campaign .
The District of Columbia, Washington, and Oregon have the highest minimum wages of $10.50, $9.47, and $9.25 respectively. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced in September that his state will raise the minimum wage to $15 over the next six years, and US cities such as Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles have already raised their minimum wages to .听
