Detroit-area fast food workers demand that local McDonald's get with the New York program

REDFORD, MI (Tell Us Det) - It only takes a New York minute to see that Michigan shouldn’t fall behind that eastern state, a Thursday rally points out. On the heels of the New York Wage Board’s recommendation that fast food workers should earn $15 an hour, dozens of low-wage workers and their supporters rallied in Metro Detroit to call on elected officials for similar leadership.

The labor protest movement that fast-food workers in New York City began nearly three years ago has led to higher wages for workers all across the country. On Wednesday, it paid off for the people who started it.

“Michigan needs to follow the lead of New York,” said Pastor W.J. Rideout III of All God’s People Church in Detroit. I’m here because we want Michigan fast food workers to receive $15 an hour.”


Shouting, “we believe that we can win,” and “Hey Hey! Ho Ho! $8.15 has got to go,” the protestors initially took over the lobby of the McDonald’s restaurant at 15301 Telegraph Road, before being ushered out by the Redford Police Department. (Photo by HB Meeks/Tell Us Detroit)

Using the New York Wage Board’s recommendation of a $15 hourly wage for the fast food industry as their example, more than 100 fast food workers and their supporters, part of the D15 campaign, rallied at a Redford McDonald’s Thursday for a similar action by Michigan’s elected officials.

“I’m here because $8.15 is not enough,” said Brittany Williamson, a 21-year-old McDonald’s worker who said that the action in New York shows that, “when we fight, we win.” Michigan’s minimum wage “is not a livable wage,” she added.

Thursday’s rally at a Redford McDonald’s was one of several events taking place across the country to highlight the need for a livable wage.