A labor watchdog group claimed Tuesday that an upcoming fast food worker protest is actually a deliberate and unlawful union organizing campaign.
Fight for 15, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union, is planning a national fast food worker protest for Thursday. It is one of several in the past year.
Worker Center Watch claims these protests are actually just a way for the SEIU to bypass labor laws in an attempt to unionize fast food workers.
Under current National Labor Relation Board rules, worker centers like Fight for 15 aren’t subject to many of the limitations unions face but they also cannot organize workers without filing a petition for an election.
“The SEIU is misrepresenting the real objective of the ‘Fight for 15’ campaign. While labor leaders purport that protests and organizing efforts are centered on raising the minimum wage or supporting the ‘right to form a union,’ they are actually part of a carefully orchestrated and unlawful union organizing campaign” a statement by WCW declared.
These protests “are generated by the SEIU and not the workers” Diana Furchtgott-Roth, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, explained to reporters during a teleconference organized by WCW.
“They do not represent the fast food workers, they are not elected,” she added.
Fast food businesses have high turnover, including many employees who are students and seasonal workers, which may be attractive to labor unions.
Glenn Spencer, vice president of the Workforce Freedom Initiative, alleged that these groups have brought in other members and activists who aren’t industry workers to make previous fast food protests seem bigger.
“Very few workers actually participate in them,” Spencer stated. “It’s not about workers rights but about union organizing.”
The Workforce Freedom Initiative is an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The Daily Caller News Foundation could not reach Fight for 15 or the SEIU for further comment.
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