What: Strikes, protests and civil disobedience in NYC and Newark Airport as part of Fight for $15 National Day of Action
Who: Hundreds of airport workers, fast food workers, Uber and taxi drivers and other low-wage workers; community groups; 32BJ members
When/Where: November 29th, 2016
• 6:00 AM at Zuccotti Park (corner of Liberty Street and Broadway) in Manhattan:
Striking fast food workers, supported by airport workers and community, march to nearby McDonald’s at 160 Broadway to protest unfair labor practices and risk arrest. Uber drivers and taxi drivers to form solidarity caravan at Zuccotti Park to demand good jobs and living wages for app-based drivers
• Noon at Newark Airport Terminal B (Level 2, Door 1):
March and protest with airport workers, fast food workers and community members from both New York and New Jersey.
NEW YORK– As part of a national day of action for the 64 million workers making minimum wage in the US on November 29, striking fast food workers along with airport workers, Uber drivers and messengers, taxi drivers and other low-wage workers and community members will hold a march and risk arrest in Manhattan to protest retaliation and other unfair treatment at McDonalds. Then they will head to Newark Airport for a major rally and march to demand that Newark Airport workers aren’t treated as second class citizens and are given a $15 minimum wage like their colleagues at New York airports. Airport workers will also call on contractor Primeflight to recognize their union rights, raise wages and provide benefits to its workers.The diverse coalition of the Fight for $15 in New York includes fast food workers, airport workers, Uber drivers and messengers, taxi drivers and many others who are joining community members to demand good jobs and union rights, no deportations, an end to police killings of black people and to say, hands off our health care.On the four-year anniversary of the first fast food strike in New York, workers are holding their biggest actions ever across the country. The 2016 elections were defined by frustration with the rigged economy and for low-wage workers in New York City, immigrants, people of color and a range of progressive and community groups this is the first moment where we are coming together to say that we won’t back down.
The Fight for $15 started in New York City in 2012, when 200 brave fast-food workers walked off their jobs, demanding $15 and the right to form a union without retaliation. The movement has spread to cities around the world and to industries across the low-wage service economy including home care and child care. Once considered a long shot, workers have won $15 in California and New York State, in cities like Washington, D.C. and Seattle, and in companies and industries all around the nation. Learn more at fightfor15.org.
With 155,000 members in eleven states and Washington, D.C., including 70,000 in New York City, 32BJ SEIU is the largest property service workers union in the country.
Founded in 1998, NYTWA is the 19,000-member strong union of NYC taxicab drivers, representing yellow cab drivers, green car, and black car drivers, including drivers for Uber and Lyft. We fight for justice, rights, respect and dignity for the over 50,000 licensed men and women who often labor 12 hour shifts with little pay and few protections in the city’s mobile sweatshop. Our members come from every community, garage, and neighborhood. To find out more visit NYTWA.org or like us on facebook.com/nytwa.