Off a country road deep in Durham, North Carolina, dozens of people wearing white shirts gather under a large, white tent in an open field. There is singing, clapping, and even some dancing. Before long, a young Black man grabs a microphone and stirs the sweaty crowd onto their feet with a call and response chant.

“Everywhere we go

People want to know

Who we are 

So we tell them

We are the workers 

The mighty-mighty workers

Fighting for 15

Fifteen and a union”

The workers in question—food service workers, gig workers, Amazon drivers, and health care workers—came from across the state and as far as away as South Carolina to attend a “worker power” summit for low-wage workers new to NC Raise Up, the exceptionally active North Carolina chapter of the Fight for $15 and a Union—an advocacy organization demanding that corporations increase wages and that state and federal governments step in to mandate a $15 minimum wage. NC Raise Up began in 2013, and, since the pandemic began, the chapter has organized a dozen day-long strikes in the state. Most of these actions have been led by fast food workers, like the August 20 strike when workers employed at Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers in Durham walked off the job.

The workers in attendance at the July 24 summit weren’t just new to NC Raise Up; they were new to organizing and activism, new to thinking of themselves as being part of a labor movement. Just four days earlier, on July 20, NC Raise Up’s greenest members participated in their first ever strike to mark 12 years since the last time the federal minimum wage was increased.

Read the full article about the North Carolina movement for wages and workers' rights by Tina Vasquez at The Counter.