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Thousands of fast food workers plan to walk off the job in 100 U.S. cities today, a major escalation in labor’s strongest-ever challenge to an industry that’s become ever more central to the present and future of U.S. work. One year after a surprise work stoppage by 200 New York City fast food
In the media
Josh Eidelson
When I was 18, I spent a year and change flipping burgers in one of those restaurants where customers eat from a tray balanced across their car windows. It was one of the three jobs I held at the time, affording a simple budget and enough left over to save up to go to college after a couple of years
Blog
Catherine Ruetschlin
Low wages are not just keeping workers in poverty, they are also holding back the economy by weakening consumer demand and keeping employers from realizing the benefits that accompany investments in the work force. Retail and fast food companies that pay poverty wages sabotage their own bottom lines
In the media
Catherine Ruetschlin
New research illustrates ways in which the current economic difficulties of African American households are compounded even further by a legacy of discriminatory policies that have left African Americans with significantly fewer assets and lower rates of homeownership than white households.
Press release/statement
The White House has offered “no response” to a months-old call from congressional Democrats to bypass Congress and use executive action to raise workers’ wages, the co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus told Salon Tuesday afternoon.
In the media
Josh Eidelson

In the wake of the worst effects of the Great Recession, African Americans, like Americans as a whole, are getting their balance sheets in order and paying down credit card debt. But new research from Demos’ National Survey on Credit Card Debt of Low-and Middle-Income Households finds that African

Research
Catherine Ruetschlin
Dedrick Asante-Muhammad
The largest city in American history to file for bankruptcy protectionis officially bankrupt.
In the media
Ashley Woods
The bill for decades of Detroit's financial decline has now come due. A federal judge's ruling approving the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history Tuesday sets the stage for an epic legal battle over who will be asked to help pick up the tab, including bond investors, retired city workers
In the media
John W. Schoen
Next November, Californians will decide whether to raise the state's minimum wage to $12 an hour -- which would be the highest level of any state and not so far from the $15 an hour goal often mentioned by labor activists.
Blog
David Callahan
In today’s New York Times, Paul Krugman takes on the plight of low-wage retail and fast food workers, who have seen their real wages fall almost 30 percent since 1973 even as this sector has become a larger part of our economy. During a season when Americans flood the stores for holiday shopping
Blog
Amy Traub