Low-Wage Workers: Smash Wage Slavery

New York City, April 15 — In one of the largest labor actions in recent history, tens of thousands of workers in 40 countries around the world went on strike against low wages today.
In New York City, workers and their supporters briefly blocked the Brooklyn Bridge and closed down a McDonald’s. Members of PLP marched and chanted shoulder to shoulder with these workers and over the course of the day we distributed hundreds of CHALLENGEs and 1,000 leaflets inviting workers to march with us on International Workers Day May 2.
There are over 1.5 million low-wage workers in NYC who can’t survive on $8.75/hr in the most expensive city in the U.S. The low-wage service sector — including fast food, restaurants, airport, retail, carwashers and home health attendants — is the fastest growing in the U.S.
From its beginnings capitalism has always been a barbaric system of wage slavery. The exploitation of all workers is based on racist super-exploitation of mainly Black, Latin and immigrant workers. While fast food workers make $350 a week, the bosses rob them of billions of dollars in their cutthroat battle for profits. This low-wage campaign does not even include the thousands of undocumented workers who work below minimum wage and cannot legally have $15/hr wages. There is no escape from class inequality under capitalism.
Capitalist politicians, union and community leaders support $15/hr. But the working class knows what we “win” under the capitalist system, the bosses take away with higher prices, taxes, periodic recessions, and depressions.
Capitalist reforms cannot solve the crisis of the world’s workers. The only solution is revolution for workers’ power to build an egalitarian society. March on International Workers Day and join the Progressive Labor Party!