Thousands of US Workers to Walk Off Job in Protest Against Racial Inequality

NEW YORK, KOMPAS.com — Tens of thousands of US workers are set to walk off their jobs on Monday to protest systemic racism and economic inequality.

Organizers of a national workers strike stated that the multi-layer effects of racial inequality have worsened during the coronavirus pandemic.

The strike, dubbed the “Strike for Black Lives”, is scheduled to take place in more than two dozens of cities in the US.

A range of planned actions will be carried out from New York City all the way to Los Angeles.

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Labor unions as well as social and racial justice organizations from all over the US will participate in the protest.

There are other methods of protesting available for workers that cannot take a full day off from work.

Participants will either picket during a lunch break of observing moments of silence to honor Black lives lost to police violence, organizers said.

“We are ... building a country where Black lives matter in every aspect of society — including in the workplace,” said Ash-Lee Henderson, an organizer with the Movement for Black Lives, a coalition of over 150 organizations that make up the Black Lives Matter movement.

“The Strike for Black Lives is a moment of reckoning for corporations that have long ignored the concerns of their Black workforce and denied them better working conditions, living wages and healthcare,” said Henderson, who is also co-executive director of the Tennessee-based Highlander Research and Education Center.

Among the strikers will be essential workers: nursing home employees, janitors, and delivery men and women. Fast food, ride-share, and airport workers are also expected to take part in planned events.

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The strike continues an ongoing global reckoning on race and police brutality set off by the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died at the hands of Minneapolis police in late May.

At noon in each US time zone on Monday, workers are expected to take a knee for about eight minutes — the amount of time prosecutors say a white police officer held his knee on Floyd’s neck.

Strikers are demanding sweeping action by corporations and government to confront systemic racism and economic inequality that limits mobility and career advancement for many Black and Hispanic workers, who make up a disproportionate number of those earning less than a living wage.