BuzzFeed News speaks with Mary Kay Henry, president of the two million member Service Employees International Union and a driving force behind the Fight for 15.
Jonathan Ernst / Reuters
In the midst of declining union power in the U.S., the Service Employees International Union and its president, Mary Kay Henry, have emerged as two of the most forward-thinking figures born of the traditional labor movement.
With money and advice, they have supported alternative labor structures like workers' centers and informal unions, which have increasingly gained ground as conventional unions lose membership.
Most prominently, they have helped lead the national Fight for 15 movement among fast-food workers for a $15 minimum wage, one of the most visible and energetic additions to the labor movement in decades.
As the tally of cities, states, companies and sectors raising pay grows, SEIU's approach looks more and more like a winning strategy. Today, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's wage board is expected to announce the results of its inquiry into raising the minimum wage for the state's fast food workers — another milestone for the movement.
In recent months, BuzzFeed News interviewed Henry, both by phone and in person. Here's an edited transcript of the conversations.
What happens the day after the results from the New York wage board come out?
We're going to make a national demand when the wage board issues in mid-July — the demand to set up wage boards everywhere in the country for fast food workers. And then we need to think with the people in New York: what's the next wage board demand that occurs after the fast food wage board? Which I don't know if the governor is anticipating.
We have to think — okay, we can't pass minimum wage in the state? We'll just go sector by sector. Because the [law] says the governor should call a wage board if people can't lead a healthy life based on their wages. Well, that is a lot of damn workers in New York.
What might the next sector be?
I think of the answer to your question based on who's in the street. Because then the elected thinks, "Oh my god, I've got to respond to this." It's not an academic exercise, even though there might be an economic reason. It's all about building the movement and having the electeds respond to the wind.
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Are there any common misconceptions about the Fight for 15 you'd like to dispel?
We need to change the public consciousness about these workers. These are no longer high school students looking for pocket change. These are moms and dads doing the best they can.
We see fast food workers opening a story about all kinds of service and care workers in the U.S. economy — about workers in the fastest growing jobs needing to have wages and a voice through collective action.
What was behind the decision to focus on fast food workers and wage increases in particular, and what's next for the movement?
In the past, janitors formed a union outside of the law. Home care workers formed a union outside of the law. In previous times, it's been about cities and states. What's a breakthrough about this moment is that it's national, and that fast food workers used the very difficult decision to strike as a way to capture the nation's imagination.
I think we're going to see additional workers join from across the retail sector, from auto parts work, from airports. We're joining with the immigration movement, with Black Lives Matter, the environmental movement — and we think it begins with McDonalds, Wendy's, and Burger King.
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