Fast Food Workers Prepare to Strike on Thursday

New York City is the land of a thousand fast food joints, and our neighborhood is no exception. Bushwick is home to upwards of 20 locations of major fast food restaurants, including multiple McDonald’s, Burger Kings, Dunkin’ Donuts and Taco Bells, not to mention Pizza Hut, Papa John’s, Little Caesar’s, Domino’s, White Castle, Checker’s and Kennedy Fried Chicken. A few blocks down from Little Skips there’s a KFC at the sinister address 666 Bushwick Avenue. Bushwickians who live off the Myrtle-Broadway JMZ stop may remember the week early in 2013 when the Popeye’s next to the train entrance moved two storefronts down, temporarily making it seem like there were going to be two Popeye’s on the block. It amused many but would have surprised no one. It can’t be denied that fast food is all around us, whether we like it or not. Before you take a bite from a cheap burger, you should know that fast food chains frequently exploit their workers beyond “just” low wages. Fast food workers are too often subjected to brutal workplace conditions, such as overheated kitchens without air conditioning or fans in the middle of the summer, and unfair company policies, such as mandatory paycheck-gouging bank accounts, all too routinely.