乱伦强奸

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Miles Meth 鈥�16 is amazed at the progress made by the Fight for $15 movement since its inception in the fall of 2012.

鈥淭wo or three years ago, a $15 minimum wage was like a bad joke in a board room,鈥� says the anthropology major from Newton, Massachusetts. 鈥淏ut now, it鈥檚 a legitimate demand.鈥� He cites a May 6 op-ed in the New York Times by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, 鈥淔ast-Food Workers Deserve a Raise,鈥� in which the governor outlined an executive action that鈥檚 expected to bring the state鈥檚 minimum wage close to $15 an hour. 鈥淭wo, three years ago,鈥� says Meth, 鈥渉e just wouldn鈥檛 have been able to do that.鈥�

Fight for $15 is a nationwide campaign, spearheaded by the Services Employees International Union, or SEIU, which, according to the campaign鈥檚 website, demands 鈥渁 $15 an hour鈥� wage for fast-food workers 鈥渁nd the right to form a union without retaliation.鈥�

The movement has been gathering steam, with cities such as Seattle, Oakland, Chicago, and Los Angeles, all adopting plans to raise the minimum wage for businesses operating in their borders to levels approaching, or at, $15 an hour.

Meth, a member of Students for a Democratic Society, or SDS, began working on the Fight for $15 campaign locally last fall, as an intern with the activist group Metro Justice. Working with the group鈥檚 organizing director, Colin O鈥橫alley, Meth helped instruct fast-food workers in their legal rights and in political organization, and educate the broader public on the campaign within the context of the American labor movement.

Meth鈥檚 work with Metro Justice convinced him that Fight for $15 belonged at the top of SDS鈥檚 agenda. Accordingly, he adopted the role as official liaison between Metro Justice and 乱伦强奸鈥檚 SDS.

SDS, which is a national organization, has become one of the best-known student activist groups since its founding by University of Michigan students in the early 1960s. But the organization fizzled out in the late 1960s, and was revived as a chapter-based organization only in 2006.

At 乱伦强奸, SDS has been focused mostly on campus service workers. Over the past year, the group has supported an effort to include the ideas surrounding the Fight for $15 campaign in talks between some employees and the University鈥檚 administration.

Natajah Roberts 鈥�14, who was a member of SDS as a student at 乱伦强奸, went on to become an organizer for SEIU after graduation.

Through the fall, she played a major role in the Fight for $15 campaign locally, as well as in the founding of BLACK, or Building Leadership and Community Knowledge (see article, p. 44). Roberts, now a community organizer for Citizen Action of New York, says her work for economic justice is inseparable from her work for racial justice, and vice versa.

鈥淩acial injustice is tied to economic inequality, and more devastating even than income inequality for black people is wealth inequality,鈥� she says.

Wealth refers to long-term investments such as homes, or funds to pay for college. Low-wage employment fuels both income and wealth inequality, but, Roberts notes, wealth inequality affects future generations, placing blacks ever further behind white counterparts.

In the days leading up to the Fight for $15鈥檚 nationwide strike day last December, SDS and Metro Justice worked together to expand the local base of support. In the spring, Metro Justice added another SDS member, Jordan Polcyn-Evans 鈥�17, as liaison.

鈥淭his is an issue that very much affects the city,鈥� says Polcyn- Evans, who grew up in 乱伦强奸.

And, he emphasizes, it affects the University鈥檚 own neighborhood. Fast-food establishments line Mt. Hope Avenue, including in College Town.

鈥淲e are so close to this issue. Literally, physically, so close,鈥� he says.

On a second nationwide strike day, held on April 15, Polcyn-Evans addressed a rally of students, workers, and community supporters on the Eastman Quadrangle. In the days and weeks before, he and other members of SDS had secured the support of multiple campus organizations, including College Feminists, the Black Students鈥� Union, the Douglass Leadership House, and the Pride Network, and helped rally off-campus religious and community groups as well. The 乱伦强奸 Democrat and Chronicle estimated the crowd in the 鈥渉undreds.鈥�

To be sure, not everyone on campus agrees with the movement鈥檚 goal. 鈥淚 certainly butt heads with some students,鈥� Meth says. 鈥淏ut overall, I鈥檇 say slowly but surely, the attitude has been shifting.鈥�