'Fight for $15': Workers rally in LA on 50th anniversary of Memphis sanitation strike

Anabel Munoz Image
Tuesday, February 13, 2018
'Fight for $15': Fast-food workers rally for wage increase
Fifty years after the historic Memphis sanitation workers strike, fast-food employees marched in L.A. to demand unionization and a $15 minimum wage.

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- On the 50th anniversary of the historic Memphis sanitation workers strike, fast-food employees marched in Los Angeles on Monday to demand unionization and a $15 minimum wage.

"Dr. King went to Memphis to support the sanitation workers' rights and we in the Poor People's Campaign are continuing that legacy" said the Rev. Eddie Anderson with the Poor People's Campaign.

Anderson joined fast-food workers marching in Los Angeles on Monday. Protesters held similar signs to the ones that read "I Am Man" in 1968, demanding dignity and respect.

"I'm out here again to fight for these people' rights, the fast-food workers who deserve a union and a living wage, minimum $15," said Alondra Becerra, a protester.

California will mandate a minimum wage of $15 an hour by 2022. Fast-food workers protesting Monday said they're also fighting for union rights.

Becerra is advocating for workers like her single mother.

"Because I've seen her struggle a lot as a single mother and I know that she's not the only one, I know it's nationwide, so I believe that we all deserve it," Becerra said.

According to the National Employment Law Project, women, African-Americans and Latinos remain over-represented in jobs that pay less than $15 an hour. Monday's efforts are part of a national six-week campaign for moral revival.

"We're standing with Fight 15 workers, fast food workers, tenants, sanitation workers, people who are fighting for living wage, and we're continuing to say that all labor has dignity and that everyone deserves dignity and justice," Anderson said.