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Workers in the Bay Area walked off their jobs for short periods Monday as part of a nationwide protest against racism and an economic inequality exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to labor organizers.
Thousands of fast-food, nursing home, airport and ride-hailing workers participated in the “Strike for Black Lives” across the United States, organizers said. While some went on strike all day, others did so for shorter periods like during lunchtime. Many took a knee for eight minutes and 46 seconds — the time prosecutors say a Minneapolis police officer knelt on the neck of George Floyd, killing him.
Organizers and workers called for sweeping actions by government and corporations to boost wages, ensure better working conditions, implement sick pay and provide more affordable access to healthcare. Doing so would help increase economic mobility for the Black and Latino workers who disproportionately have low-wage jobs, they say.
In Oakland, about 200 people gathered for a brief rally at Mosswood Park on Webster Street near Kaiser Hospital, then marched to the Telegraph Avenue McDonald’s, where workers have been on strike since May and sued the owner last month over a COVID-19 outbreak they say affected 35 people, including one worker’s 10-month-old child. The workers alleged they were forced to make their own masks out of dog diapers and the restaurant failed to provide an adequate safety plan.
Some participants climbed onto the restaurant’s roof, holding up banners that demanded workers be treated with “dignity” and given personal protection equipment while on the job.
Participants of the event, organized by Fight for $15 — which is campaigning for a $15 minimum wage across the country — included union members, activists and their supporters.
“This is our generation’s turn to understand in our bones that we will not have economic justice until we stand with our Black sisters and brothers,” said Mary Kay Henry, international president of the Service Employees International Union.
Jason Molloy, 26, said he lives in the neighborhood and was riding past on his bicycle when he decided to stop and participate.
“This is a critical moment,” Molloy said. “These issues have been going on for years, but now it seems people are motivated to make change. Not only for how Black people are treated by police, but also for workers’ rights.”
Sarah Woodsworth, 23, of Oakland said she believed it was important to show solidarity with low-wage workers.
“The Bay Area is an expensive place to live,” Woodsworth said. “If we don’t change how people are treated, they will stay in poverty and many will end up homeless.”
“Today, we say, enough is enough,” said Cherri Murphy, a member of the group Gig Workers Rising.
In an email statement, the McDonald’s media team said the chain has “enhanced over 50 processes in the restaurants” and distributed “ample” gloves, masks and other protective gear to its restaurants. The statement also said “we are confident the vast majority of employees are covered with sick pay if they are impacted by COVID-19,” but did not answer questions about how many employees would be covered and why all employees are not.
“McDonald’s unequivocally supports the need for racial equality and social justice and stands with Black communities across the globe where we are proud to offer employment opportunities and learn from our team members to make the McDonald’s System stronger,” the statement said.
Those who gathered at San Francisco City Hall Monday were mostly SEIU workers from local chapters showing their support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
Ramses Teon-Nichols, who works at a nonprofit in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco, said most of his co-workers are Black or people of color.
“When we see someone being attacked, we want to stand up together,” he said.
A total of 1,500 janitors around the regional also went on strike Monday, some of whom marched to city hall for Monday’s rally. They held signs that read “Janitors for Black lives,” or “We want PPE.”
Some at the rally chanted for an end to city budget cuts that have resulted in furloughs and layoffs.
Theresa Rutherford, regional vice president of SEIU Local 1021, told the crowd there are two pandemics — COVID-19 and systemic racism. She urged that all Black and Latino workers be treated with the same respect as everyone else.
A group painted “Defund the police” and “Fund Black Futures” in bright yellow paint in front of City Hall.
Marquitta Richards brought her son, Kareem, 7, to help with the painting. She said her son wanted to know what “defund the police” means.
At Highland Hospital in Oakland , a spirited crowd of nearly 100 people gathered in front of the facility to demand that the county’s Alameda Health Services management be replaced.
“They want you to put your health on the front line, to put your families at risk,” said Derrick Boutte, an Alameda Health Services housekeeper at Highland. He said the hospital “wants you to use the same mask” and fails to provide protective equipment to its essential workforce. He added that the hospital management has laid off Black and Latino workers.
The crowd walked about halfway around the hospital and then showed their opposition to police brutality by lying down on the street — in front of Highland — for eight minutes and 46 seconds.
Sheleka Carter, the SEIU 1021 Alameda Health System chapter secretary and community health outreach coordinator at Highland Hospital, said systemic racism within health care institutions have to stop.
“Let’s take care of them — like they take care of us,” Carter told the crowd. “Why do workers have to come to work every day and try to do the best they can with what they have?”
