The Fight for $15 grassroots labor rights movement has been applauded for years by progressive lawmakers and advocates for its tireless efforts to secure fair pay and the right to organize for all workers—and on Wednesday, new research showed how the group has been instrumental in changing the lives of tens of millions of people across the country.
"The success of the movement for higher wages... only reaffirms how far out of step lawmakers in Congress are from their constituents, as they continue to refuse to raise the federal minimum wage."
—NELP
The victories won by the Fight for $15 have been particularly instrumental in helping to close racial and gender-based pay gaps. About 12 million of the workers who have earned raises due to the movement's activism are people of color; $76 billion has gone to workers of color and $70 billion has gone to women.
"The Black and brown workers leading the Fight for $15 and a union have heroically transformed public discourse on wages, worker power, and workplace democracy—while achieving major policy wins and taking on exploitative corporations," said NELP executive director Rebecca Dixon.
In the study, the NELP notes that despite the highly effective organizing work of Fight for $15, there are still 20 states—including Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee—where the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour is used or where there is no minimum wage.
"This is structurally racist in design and effect, as most Black workers in the U.S. live in these states," the NELP said in a statement.
To put all workers on the path to being paid fairly, the report says, Congress must pass the Raise the Wage Act of 2021.
"The success of the movement for higher wages—demonstrated so clearly by the impact numbers highlighted in this report—only reaffirms how far out of step lawmakers in Congress are from their constituents, as they continue to refuse to raise the federal minimum wage," the report reads.
Lathrop emphasized that the worker-led movement has won raises for millions of people despite facing "every imaginable obstacle—from a system increasingly stacked against workers and labor unions, to interference from some of the most nefarious corporations, who deployed well-paid lobbyists to fight tooth and nail against higher minimum wages."
"But workers won in the end," Lathrop said. "That should tell us that when workers organize, they win."
This content originally appeared on Common Dreams - Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community and was authored by Julia Conley.
Julia Conley | Radio Free (2021-07-28T19:51:54+00:00) Grassroots Fight for $15 Movement Has Won $150 Billion in Raises for Millions of Workers, Study Shows. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2021/07/28/grassroots-fight-for-15-movement-has-won-150-billion-in-raises-for-millions-of-workers-study-shows/
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