By Jarrett Spence
Fast-food employees, child care providers and many other underpaid workers rallied on November 10th in several locations across the city. One group gathered on 124st in Harlem, armed with signs such as “Inequality is Deadly” and “Black Work Matters,” calling on city residents to join the fight to raise their pay to $15 per hour.
Many protesters said that they believed their pay did not reflect the value of their work and was not a sufficient wage due to the high cost of living in New York City. Their demands: make the minimum wage $15 per hour and create a union for all workers. Many said they find it difficult to live in New York and struggle with having to work multiple jobs just to get by. As rents rise in the five boroughs, some locals say they are being pushed out because they can not afford to live there.
Leyah Sherman, a member of the Socialist Workers Party, suggested that a public works program could provide jobs and modernize the nation’s infrastructure. “They need to build hospitals, schools, none of that being done,” he said. “There’s two movements…that are so important for working people of this country and we should all join them.”
Members of the Black Lives Matter joined in the rally for higher pay. Marchers said they feel that economic justice goes hand in hand with racial justice. “We stand by the fact that economic justice is racial justice, so when we think about what safety means to black communities, overpriced living wages is not part of it,” said Delane Powerful, a member of the Black Youth Project 100. “The Black Youth Project 100 is out here because we are demanding justice for black workers,” said Kelvin Rojas. “Safety does not stem from policing, it stems from strong communities and living wages, unionized workers is a part of that.”
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