Fran Works Six Days A Week In Fast Food, And Yet She's Homeless

"The restaurant is on “short shift” at the moment, which means it has about half the usual staff, so Fran Marion often has to do all those jobs herself. On the day we met, she estimates she processed 187 orders — roughly one every two minutes. Those orders grossed about $950 for the company. Marion went home with $76." Marion cannot make ends meet with one job, so she has two. But she was still living paycheck to paycheck. Inevitably, she ran into bad luck and her building was condemned due to a negligent landlord, forcing her and her two children out of their home. 

But Marion and the co-worker she is staying with are fighting back against a system stacked against them. "The pair are leading voices in Stand Up Kansas City, the local chapter of the union-backed Fight for $15 movement, which is campaigning for a nationwide increase in the minimum wage...The Fight for $15 movement is probably the most high profile and successful labor movement in the US, and has successfully pushed for local raises in the minimum wage across the country." Although the unemployment rate in the US is at a 16 year low, wage increases have barely kept up with inflation. Conservatives often argue that raising minimum wages hurts businesses and their employees, ultimately studies have shown that that is not true. Marion and her co-workers are leading the battle to push Kansas City into paying livable wages in a recovered economy. 

This article shows us the Fight for $15 movement through the eyes of two women for whom it would make a world of difference. The increase in income would help Marion save enough for a deposit to find a new place to live and keep her family together. This movement trend sweeping the nation, not just in liberal places like Seattle, but even in states that voted Trump. It is important to workers across the country.