By Danielle MoskowitzSTAFF WRITER
During the Center for Civic Engagement’s Day of Dialogue on Oct. 28, Hofstra welcomed activists from the Fight for 15, a campaign among fast food workers who are fighting for $15 minimum wage.
Fight for 15 officially started on Nov. 29, 2012. Hundreds of employees in New York City walked out of their jobs to demand $15 an hour for fast food workers. This event inspired people around the country to start going on strikes and Greg Reynoso, New York State director for the activist group, said that people finally started to realize that they had the right to form a union.
Today, Reynoso stated that around 200 cities and 23 different countries have joined the Fight for 15.
Yancy Rivera – who has two children and only makes $9.50 an hour – joined the campaign this past June. Rivera stated at the panel, “We need $15 an hour to support our families.” She cannot afford transportation so each day she walks 50 minutes to get to work and another 50 minutes to walk back home.
Similar to Rivera, Ada Torres – who joined the campaign a month ago – has a family to take care of yet for the past 30 years she has only made $10 an hour and has no money saved up. One of her kids wants to become a doctor in the future, however, Torres does not know how to tell him that they cannot afford the schooling.
Many parents have to work multiple jobs, like Torres and Rivera, to provide for their families. This does not allow the parent to have enough time to raise their children properly. Also, it is harder for the parents to pay for their children’s education. Therefore, the child lacks the necessary education.
To me, $15 is the minimum hourly wage needed to support an average family of two to three children. However, many families have more children than that. By increasing the minimum wage, families will be able to provide for all their children.
A reason why people are against increasing minimum wage is that they believe fast food jobs are only for young kids. Contrary to that belief, Reynoso stated how it has been proven that over 60 percent of fast food workers are older.
Even if the fast food companies have younger workers, raising the wage to $15 an hour will be beneficial to help them pay off student loans and create a financial foundation for their lives. In my opinion, having the minimum wage increase will help give the youth financial stability during and after schooling.
I believe that the current minimum wage does not allow a parent to supply their family with basic necessities such as housing, food, utilities, transportation and childcare. Increasing the minimum wage will ensure that families have enough to live on.
There is a demonstration set for Nov. 10 at 6 a.m. in New York City. This demonstration is important to try and get more people involved and to voice their opinions. This will help inspire people to fight harder, similar to how I felt after listening to the Fight for 15 panel. By holding this demonstration, more people will realize that raising the minimum wage to $15 will be beneficial to all.
As Greg Reynoso said, “Any support, any single person, should come. If you want to help, be there.”
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