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McDonald’s workers strike outside their East Los Angeles location following a co-worker’s death.
Image Credit: Fight For $15 LA Twitter Account
In Houston, unlike East Los Angeles, all of the employees did not go on strike. In addition to Machuca, five other employees left while four stayed in the establishment, allowing the location to remain open. According to Porfirio Villareal, a spokesperson for the city of Houston’s Health Department, the law is on Machucha’s side: “Houston law requires food establishments to have air conditioning during the summer and heat during the winter, Villareal said. “Without it, workers could suffer from heat exhaustion or heat stroke, which can be deadly,” Machuca said that she would return by Friday, July 21 provided the air conditioning unit had been repaired.
We’re reminding our bosses who has the power. pic.twitter.com/4Iyw5MiocI
These labor disputes come amid a wave of strikes and labor-related conversations that are embroiling the national consciousness in debates around the value of labor. California in particular is the epicenter of these debates as we are updated on the dispute between writers and actors and the Hollywood studios via social media. Amazon delivery drivers joined the Teamsters strike of UPS over similar work conditions. Teachers are on strike across the country, seeking benefits for themselves and their students; experts are cautioning that it will be a summer of strikes and so far, that caution appears to be a true warning.
Source: Black Enterprise
