Princess Wright, 22, was fired from her job at a McDonald’s in Brooklyn for missing a shift.
Photo Credit: Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times

After Winning a $15 Minimum Wage, Fast Food Workers Now Battle Unfair Firings

New York City’s fast-food industry has served as a laboratory for the nation’s labor movement for the last several years.

Its workers were the first to stage rallies demanding a minimum wage of $15 an hour. Then, they pressed for changes in the way national restaurant chains set their work schedules.

Now, they are asking the City Council to shield them from being fired without a valid reason. That protection, the sort of job security that unions usually bargain for, would be a first for a city to provide to workers in a specific industry, labor law experts said.

 

Read the full article on The New York Times.

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New York Rep Proposes Bill to Address ‘Unfair Firings’ in Fast Food Industry

Minimum-wage workers in New York may have won the battle for $15 an hour, but another fight remains.

Employees of fast-food companies are now asking the New York City Council to protect them from being fired without a valid reason.

City Councilman Brad Lander is planning to introduce a bill on Wednesday that would require fast-food businesses to show “just cause” for firing workers and give them a chance to appeal dismissals through arbitration (h/t the New York Times).

Read the full article at Biz Journals.