Julián Castro, Dr. Barber To Join Durham Striking McDonald’s Workers As Nationwide Walkout
Durham, NC – Durham McDonald’s workers will strike Thursday (May 23) — the day of the company’s annual shareholder meeting — demanding the right to a union, and they’ll be joined by 2020 presidential candidate Julián Castro and Dr. William Barber of the Poor’s Peoples Campaign.
The strike in Durham is one of more than a dozen nationwide Thursday, as presidential candidates Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker, Julián Castro, Bill de Blasio and Jay Inslee join workers in making a bold statement, calling on McDonald’s to respect workers’ right to a union.
WHO: Julián Castro, Rev. William Barber II, Mary Kay Henry & Durham McDonald’s workers in the Fight for $15 and a Union. Nationwide: Cory Booker, Bill de Blasio, Jay Inslee, Bernie Sanders, McDonald’s workers with the Fight for $15 and a Union, and more
WHAT: Durham McDonald’s workers to go on strike, part of coast-to-coast strikes for union rights, coinciding with McDonald’s annual shareholder meeting in Dallas. In Dallas: a video town hall with striking McDonald’s workers and Bernie Sanders ahead of McDonald’s annual shareholder meeting
WHERE: March departs from Durham Central Park, 501 Foster St, Durham, NC. Strike line at McDonald’s, 102 W Morgan St, Durham, NC
WHEN: Thursday, May 23rd at 9 am
9:00 am: Julián Castro arrives at Durham Central Park
9:30 am: March begins
10:00 am: Speakers Program begins in front of McDonald’s
FIGHT FOR $15 2020
When presidential candidates join workers on strike lines Thursday, it will also mark the launch of Fight for $15 2020, a worker-led effort to push candidates to embrace unions as the best way to tackle inequality and fight racism. The initiative will seek to make the need to put more workers in unions a defining issue of the 2020 campaign, in much the same way workers in the Fight for $15 and a Union made a $15 minimum wage a flashpoint in the 2016 race for the White House.
CHANGING THE CONVERSATION AND GETTING RESULTS AT THE BALLOT BOX
In 2016, workers in the Fight for $15 and a Union went on strike ahead of both Republican and Democratic presidential debates, pushing candidates to “come get their votes” by supporting a $15 minimum wage. A strike before the first Republican debate in Milwaukee led Fox News moderators to make support for $15 the first question to candidates.
In the 2018 midterms, workers in the Fight for $15 and a Union participated in an aggressive effort to engage infrequent voters, helping to defeat anti-worker candidates for governor in Michigan and Wisconsin. The movement’s 2020 program will aim for a similar effect in driving both the conversation on the campaign trail and results at the ballot box.
For more information or to RSVP, contact Megan Williamson 209-614-3791, megan.williamson@thefightfor15.org
