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Detroit workers strike for Black Lives Matter march

Updated  July 20, 2020 11:47pm EDT
Black Lives Matter Movement
FOX 2 Detroit

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Some employees walked off the job and into the streets of Detroit Monday demanding their workplaces prove they value Black lives.

Nursing home, fast food and sanitation workers want corporations to confront systemic racism through the wages they pay. Marches took place for the cause in cities across the country. 

Fight for 15 joins with Black Lives Matter march

Some employees walked off the job and into the streets of Detroit Monday demanding their workplaces prove they value Black lives.

"I walked out of my job because I feel like they overwork us and we do not get the right pay that we deserve," Lavelle Bates said. "I work here every day and just for $10 an hour and we deserve more than that."

The fight for fair wages led Bates and several fast food workers at the Eight Mile and Conant location to walk off the job Monday. 

Lavell Bates says this fight is about earning sufficient wages to take care of his mother and five siblings. 

"Everybody doesn't have what they need and I am trying to provide for mine," he said.

"We want to "super size." We want them to make the wages super size, we want them to make the unions super size," activist Rev. W.J. Rideout said. 

Organizers united the call for fair wages with the Black Lives Matter Movement at this rally. 

"You have police brutality, which is an officer with a badge doing what they're doing out here, and then you have corporation brutality. So if you put them together you got corporation greed, you got corporation brutality, you got corporation wage theft going on," Rev. Rideout said. 

But these workers say the Fight for 15 is not just about wages.

"Fighting for union too for the workers - not just for fast food workers - everybody needs a union. People united can't be divided," said Jerry Johnson, a Burger King employee.

As the country works to fight COVID-19, these workers are also calling on the restaurants to provide adequate personal protective equipment.

FOX 2 reached out McDonald's corporate offices and we were sent a statement which reads in part:

"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."

These workers believe that time is now.