Eight Boston fast-food workers and a community organizer were among dozens of protesters arrested across the country yesterday in an ongoing national effort to pressure McDonald's, Burger King, Dunkin' Donuts and other fast-food companies to pay workers $15 an hour and to earn the right to unionize.
Darius Cephas, a 22-year-old employed by McDonald's in Dorchester, was among the Hub workers and a Massachusetts Jobs With Justice organizer who volunteered to risk arrest by staging sit-downs in two downtown intersections to draw attention to a movement that started in New York City in 2012 and yesterday included protests in about 150 cities.
"This is my second time doing civil disobedience," Cephas said prior to the first sit-down at Washington and Milk streets. "Some way or another, somebody has to stand up. If we don't do it, no one else will."
Cephas made $8 an hour at McDonald's prior to a May protest when he participated in a job walkout, he said. "My store owner came in a week later and gave us a 25-cent raise," he said. "I'm still here because $8.25 ain't nothing either."
Cephas and the eight others arrested were charged with disturbing the peace when their sit-down moved to the much busier intersection at State and Congress streets, where police gave them a five-minute warning of their impending arrest and diverted traffic.
An estimated 100 to 150 workers and supporters participated in the peaceful Boston protest, which otherwise was without incident. The national movement is backed financially by the Service Employees International Union, and Hub actions have been organized by MassUniting, a coalition of labor, community and faith-based groups.
Four Boston fast-food workers with a loudspeaker went into the McDonald's on Washington Street in Downtown Crossing, chanting and telling customers how hard it is to make a living on their pay. "We'll be in your face, we'll be in your face. Whatever it takes, as long as it takes," they chanted before being escorted out by police.
Khadijah White, a shift manager earning $9.50 an hour at a McDonald's in Dorchester, was among the four who wanted to "let everybody know we're here to fight for $15."
"We work too hard to get paid too little," she said. "I have a son to take care of. We can (get $15), as long as we continue to work together and hold our own."
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