Home care and Fast Food Workers Join Forces for the Fight for $15!

September 16, 2014

As part of a Week of #WageAction, union and nonunion home care workers held a Speak out for $15 on the steps of the Massachusetts State House. After the Speak Out, home care workers and other 1199 members joined fast food workers at a protest in Downtown Crossing. Eight of the Fast Food workers participated in civil disobedience, taking arrested to promote the Fight for $15. 1199SEIU Personal Care Attendant Frankie Cook (pictured above) spoke about her struggle as a mother living on low pay. “Low wages force us to make impossible choices. I have to choose between paying rent, or buying my sons sneakers for school. It boils down to whether or not I’m going to pay my daughter’s day care payments, or pay the gas this month.”

Workers from 157 cities took part in the nationwide day of action. Thousands of fast food workers were arrested, and thousands of home care workers stood with them in the same struggle for justice. In Boston, workers and advocates who support the Fight for $15 have united through the #WageAction coalition which helped kick off the statewide Fight for $15 with rallies in June and August that drew low-wage workers from across multiple industries.