[lbo-talk] Fwd: Well organized 99%'ers arrested protesting McDonald's low pay

Charles Brown cb31450 at gmail.com
Thu May 22 08:57:59 PDT 2014


http://take10charles.blogspot.com/2014/05/well-organized-99ers-arrested.html

Well organized 99%'ers arrested protesting McDonald's low pay

By Charlie Brown

More than 100 well organized McDonald's workers and their activist supporters were arrested protesting low pay at the company's headquarters yesterday.

This demonstration at McDonald's headquarters is part of a months long coordinated campaign planned by Service Employees International Union. The protest at McDonald's headquarters on Wednesday was a continuation of a one day strike demonstration last Thursday in 130 cities and 30 countries around the world.

Print monopoly media coverage of the events has portrayed the protestors favorably.

Chicago Tribune's Jessica Wohl reports: "The push to raise fast-food and retail employees' wages has led to protests nationwide since the movement took shape in 2012, with demonstrations from New York to Los Angeles that are organized by groups financially backed by the Service Employees International Union. Wednesday's gathering marked the latest against McDonald's, coming a day before the company's annual meeting. "

Wahl also says, " The demonstration was peaceful, with 138 protesters presenting their IDs to police and allowing themselves to be arrested and led to a bus, one-by-one, on a hot afternoon. The Oak Brook Police Department said the arrests were made for 'criminal trespass to property' and that those arrested could face a fine."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-mcdonalds-protests-20140521,0,5545443.story

Labor Power Blog reported on the past week's struggles here:

LOW PAY IS NOT OK !http://take10charles.blogspot.com/2014/05/i-support-striking-fast-food-workers.html

"We can't pay our bills. We can't pay our rent. We must be a part of the 99%"http://take10charles.blogspot.com/2014/05/usa-today-as-many-as-2000-protesters.html

"Change from the Bottom Up :Minimum Wage Hike Petition in Michigan" http://take10charles.blogspot.com/2014/05/change-from-bottom-up-minimum.html

The protests against low pay in the fast food and retail sales industries are noteworthy for their high level of organization and sophisticated public relations and media strategy. The nationally and internationally coordinated protest demonstrations have been going since 2012, and the media coverage of them is quite sympathetic compared to the norm. USA Today announced the demonstration the day before it happened. The Chicago Tribune article quoted here is very portrays the McDonald's workers in a positive light.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/05/21/mcdonalds-protests-arrests-fast-food-restaurants/9382753/

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-21/mcdonald-s-tells-employees-to-stay-home-as-protests-loom.html

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/protesters-target-mcdonalds-annual-meeting-23812028



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