Expect traffic delays and possible detours in the city's downtown beginning today around 4 p.m. as hundreds of airport workers, childcare providers, food service workers and cab drivers will rally outside of Newark City Hall as part of a nationwide day of action demanding a $15 minimum wage and union rights.
According to organizers of the rally, what began as a campaign by fast food workers has quickly transformed into a nationwide movement for a genuine living wage that has won concessions from multinational corporations like Walmart and McDonalds and prompted Seattle to become the first city in the country to chart a course for a $15 minimum wage.
New Jersey’s minimum wage is only $8.38 an hour, though a bill is pending in the New Jersey Legislature that would allow cities to set their own minimum wages organizers said.
Rally officials explained that workers will tell their stories and contrast their low wages with the tremendous profits of the multinational corporations that employ them. The event will conclude with hundreds of workers marching to a nearby McDonalds on Broad Street to protest the fast food corporation’s substandard wages according to rally organizers.
IMAGE: Wikipedia