$15 Minimum Wage Rallies Actually Attempt at Unionization

Newstalk 870 reported on what is being called the "4-15-$15 Rallies" Wednesday in Spokane, Yakima and Pasco, with a video showing a meager turnout at the McDonalds on Court Street. But new information released by the Freedom Foundation shows the REAL motivation behind these rallies.

Literature emailed out by Working Washington claims they're a group that was largely responsible for getting the $15 minimum wage bump in Seattle and the City of SeaTac. But the Freedom Foundation (a conservative political watchdog and activist group based out of Olympia,WA) has discovered Working Washington is actually a front for the SEIU, or Service Employees International Union.

According to federal tax and income documents on file with the U.S. Labor Department, Working Washington has received nearly $9 million dollars from SEIU since the organization was founded in 2011.

The protest in Pasco today, and other cities, was largely funded by the labor union. Sources indicate SEIU has directly spent nearly $23 million dollars in 2014 funding the "Fight for $15" movement. Why?

The Freedom Foundation and other observers believe the purpose of SEIU is NOT to raise the minimum wage, but to set the stage for potential unionization of fast-food workers under the SEIU umbrella. According to the Freedom Foundation:

In a video that surfaced in October, Fight for $15 organizing director Kendall Fells admitted the true purpose of the campaign to the Congressional Black Caucus Legislative Conference, stating:

“Just to be clear, this is not a minimum wage campaign, these fast food workers are not trying to raise minimum wage. They want to sit down with the $200 billion fast food industry and get the money out of their pockets and negotiate a union contract with them.”

This makes sense, as the higher minimum wages go, the closer they get to threatening lower-end paying union jobs. In fact, some independent unions are AGAINST raising the minimum wage, because it brings "unskilled workers" closer to the money that trained union employees receive. That creates a thorny situation, where the unions then have to try to boost their wages, so the "advantages" of working for a union remain attractive.

Although we've seen near-riots in Seattle and other major cities with SEIU rallies, elsewhere the union has had very little success in getting actual employees to join in these rallies - as we saw in Pasco Wednesday. Six picketers joined a lone SEIU representative on the sidewalk.

The Foundation also says at many of these major rallies, SEIU has "paid" these so-called low income workers to protest and march. We didn't ask the SEIU fellow if he was being paid to stand in front of McDonalds in Pasco, but he did say he was there "representing" the union. According to Working Washington information, the Pasco, Yakima and Spokane picketers were supposed to be bussed to Seattle later Wednesday to join in a major $15 rally. Wonder who paid for the buses?

So the next time you hear or see these type of supposed "grass-roots" rallies, reportedly manned by low-income workers demanding a better life, consider they're probably "marchers-for-hire" paid for by SEIU or an associated labor union - not REAL fast-food employees. Most of them are too busy working, most likely.

It's not about better wages, it's about strong-arming the fast-food industry into accepting worker's unions.

Filed Under: minimum wage, money, Union

Categories: Business, National News, Tri-Cities News