The “Fight for $15” is a corporate campaign principally orchestrated and funded by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) which seeks to unionize the quick-service franchise restaurant industry and raise the federal minimum wage by more than double to $15 per hour, using the slogan “$15 and a union.”⁴

The campaign has had mixed success. As of early 2018, some left-wing jurisdictions, including California, New York State, the District of Columbia, and a number of municipalities, have enacted a $15 per hour minimum wage law which will take effect by the 2020s, though no hike has been enacted at the federal level.⁵ During the Obama administration, the National Labor Relations Board backed the campaign’s demand that franchise employers—national branding companies whose names are on the door of independently owned and operated restaurant and other service businesses—be considered “joint employers” subject to legal liability for the local employers’ business practices.⁸ Other Fight for $15 campaign organizers in New York and Detroit also resigned amid allegations of improper workplace conduct⁹ and a leading Chicago organizer was fired after being accused of “abusive and aggressive behavior” by his subordinates.¹⁰

Background

In late November 2012, union activists and a claimed 200 employees of quick-service restaurants in New York City held a series of demonstrations for a $15 minimum wage and the unionization of restaurants under the banner of “Fast Food Forward.” Groups supporting the demonstrations included New York Communities for Change (NYCC), UnitedNY, the Black Institute, and the SEIU; city Democratic politicians also backed the demonstrations.¹⁷ Courtney expressed the desire to build “a larger workers’ organization to push on wages, health coverage, pensions, scheduling and sick days,” with a labor agreement (whether or not it followed traditional National Labor Relations Act collective bargaining rules) with McDonald’s as the first step.⁴

BerlinRosen

Also see BerlinRosen (For-Profit)

BerlinRosen, a communications firm which has worked on behalf of numerous left-wing politicians and political causes, has been deeply involved in the Fight for $15 campaign since its creation. The consultancy reportedly has handled nationwide media relations and communications strategy for the campaign.²⁰

Other Campaign Consultants

A number of law firms, political consultancies, and field canvassing firms serving the SEIU have been linked to the Fight for $15. Ardleigh Group, a field canvassing firm which has worked for Democratic political campaigns in addition to SEIU,²³ In 2015, the Los Angeles Organizing Committee paid Ardleigh Group $900,000 for “payroll services.”²⁶

Worker Centers

In the early period of the campaign, before a series of “Worker Organizing Committees” were registered with the federal Department of Labor as labor unions, the Fight for $15 was driven by a series of left-wing nonprofit advocacy groups known broadly as “worker centers.”³⁰

Jobs with Justice

Also see Jobs with Justice (Nonprofit)

Jobs with Justice (JWJ) is a national coalition of worker centers and left-wing advocacy groups formed in 1987 by Larry Cohen, who would later serve as president of the Communications Workers of America labor union.⁶⁴

Former SEIU President Andy Stern has expressed concern for the union’s financial security amid the failure of the Fight for $15 to win unionization agreements. Stern told the Wall Street Journal: “The problem for the union is when dues collected from collective bargaining is your only revenue source, a social movement like Fight for $15 transfers money from your members to a broad-based fight […] You need a different business model.”⁶⁸ After Courtney’s suspension, a former Fight for $15 organizer told the Washington Free Beacon that “I’m not surprised at all given the broad environment of misogyny at [the union] […] I personally experienced sexual harassment from two people in supervisory positions.” The organizer did not have personal knowledge any actions by Courtney other than those publicly known at the time. 0){ let parent=divs[divs.length-1].parentNode; let footer=divs[divs.length-1]; delete divs[divs.length-1]; for (let i=2; i