Tens of thousands of fast-food workers, home care and childcare workers in 340 cities are slated to protest today for a National Day of Disruption. The protest marks the fourth anniversary of the movement to raise wages known as the #FightFor15. In Chicago, hundreds of janitors, baggage handlers, cabin cleaners and wheelchair attendants at O’Hare Airport are slated to strike to demand a raise to $15 an hour. Hundreds of Uber drivers in cities across the country are also slated to join the protest. This is Michael Vazquez, a wheelchair attendant at New York City’s LaGuardia Airport.
Michael Vazquez: “$10.10 an hour is just not a livable living wage, especially if you have a family. After 40 hours a week, you barely make over $1,000, and you really can’t live in this city with that type of wage, honestly. So we’re here just trying to make a better living for everybody. You know, I’m here on my day off. You know, I’m not just doing this for me. It’s not just about me; it’s about all of us. So, as you can see, as you can hear behind me, we’re all here fighting, we’re all here sticking together, and we’re not going to give up.”
This comes as German airliner Lufthansa has canceled 1,700 flights for today and Wednesday amid an ongoing pilots’ strike, which has seen a series of walkouts and strikes since last Wednesday.