Police say they were 'authorized by McDonald's' to arrest protesters, suit claims
Source: The Guardian
Police claimed they had authorization from the president of McDonalds to arrest protesting fast food workers, according to a civil rights lawsuit filed on Wednesday against the city of Memphis, Tennessee.
The suit alleges that local police engaged in a widespread and illegal campaign of surveillance and intimidation against a local chapter of the Fight for $15 fast-food worker organization as it campaigned for an increase in the minimum wage and union rights for fast food workers.
Officers followed organizers home after meetings, ordered workers not to sign petitions and blacklisted organizers from city hall, according to the suit. They claimed to have been authorized by McDonalds, the worlds largest fast food chain, and in one incident a McDonalds franchisee joined police in tailing protesters.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/mar/01/mcdonalds-fight-for-15-memphis-police-lawsuit
Orrex
(63,219 posts)"I'm tasin' it!"
eShirl
(18,496 posts)or were taxpayers?
Iggo
(47,561 posts)I'm sure that sounded okay in their head.
But when the words actually come out of their mouth, they've gotta hear it too, right?
Judi Lynn
(160,591 posts)This is something you might have heard happening around the first part of the industrial revolution, when companies used cops and private armies to terrorize struggling workers.
What's next, beatings or worse?
NWProf
(51 posts)Jason "Jay" Goulds (May 27, 1836 December 2, 1892) most famous quote was: I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half.
Gould was a leading American railroad developer and speculator. He was one of the ruthless robber barons of the Gilded Age, whose success at business made him one of the richest men of his era. He was hated and reviled.
Gould, like Trump, like the owner of Micky Ds was obscenely rich and privileged and the following quote could apply to all three.
Gould, with his seventy millions, was one of the colossal failures of our time. He was a purely selfish man. His greed consumed his charity. He was like death and hell - gathering in all, giving back nothing. To build up an immense fortune for one's self by fraud is a disgrace to the age, a mockery to virtue, a menace to public welfare. The love of money was the root of all evil in him. The motive that softens the footsteps of the burglar, that nerves the arm of the highwayman, was the same that prompted Gould to break his neighbor up to build himself up.
-Rev. Inglehart, pastor of the Park Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church
(4 December 1892), quoted in Stead, "Jay Gould: A Character Sketch"
Mendocino
(7,500 posts)Wonder if these cops are union members or "right to work" brownshirts?
murielm99
(30,754 posts)They are all running around dressed like Ronald McDonald. Or they should be!
Mendocino
(7,500 posts)dlk
(11,574 posts)This is mild compared to what was has been done by business throughout the history of the labor movement. Workers have been beaten, tortured, jailed and even killed. More needs to be done to keep this history alive so workers understand what they are truly up against, and can plan accordingly.
Stargazer99
(2,592 posts)KingBob
(150 posts)shenmue
(38,506 posts)Jim__
(14,082 posts)Demsrule86
(68,632 posts)If you still eat their shitty food...don't.
malthaussen
(17,215 posts)... or else they spoke the exact truth.
-- Mal