I walked off my job at Burger King to go on strike for the first time over a decade ago. Since then, I’ve been a Stand Up KC leader in one of the largest worker movements of the 21st century: the Fight for $15 and a union. Since our movement launched in 2012, 26 million workers have won higher government minimum wage policies — including increasing the minimum wage to $12 an hour here in Missouri. Nationally, that translates to $150 billion in additional annual income, per 2021 data.
But looking back 10 years ago, I didn’t know we could win all that. When you’re so used to fighting for your everyday survival, it’s hard to zoom out and think about the future. When you work 30 to 40 hours feeding people at a fast food job, and spend another 30 to 40 picking people up all over the city, giving them rides, and delivering their dinner–only to come home and find an eviction notice on your door–how do you imagine the future?
When you wake up with a fever over 100 degrees but can’t call off work because the rent is due and you don’t have any paid sick days, how can you even dream of a better tomorrow?
When your daughters are shivering through a cold winter night in the backseat of your minivan parked outside the Burger King you work at after you’ve been evicted because your hours got cut, how can you fathom that a future is possible for you and your family?
I’m far from alone in this struggle. And because so many of us know what it’s like to suffer at the hands of corporate greed, to not be heard on the job, and to not receive the care and dignity we deserve, we have to fight like hell for our own futures, together. No one else is going to do it for us.
That’s why over the last year, we have continued our fight for living wages and a union by demanding a strong Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) with the Kansas City Royals that guarantees living-wage union jobs and truly affordable housing in their new ballpark and entertainment district.
In January, we forced the Royals to agree to negotiate with us, and we’ve since formed the first bargaining committee in the history of Missouri Workers Center and Stand Up KC.
This is my first time sitting across from a billion-dollar organization to negotiate working conditions and wages. While I don’t take the opportunity for granted, a seat at the table by no means guarantees victory. We have to keep the pressure on and fight every step of the way to make sure each of the estimated 2,200 service and hospitality jobs created by this project is a living-wage union job.
When you wake up with a fever […] but can’t call off work because the rent is due […] how can you even dream of a better tomorrow?
On April 2, the Royals are asking us Jackson County voters to subsidize their $2 billion pet project — for 40 years — with our hard-earned tax dollars.
As a Jackson County voter, I refuse to allow a four-decade corporate handout that leaves workers behind. Billionaire John Sherman and the Royals must earn our vote by signing a binding and enforceable Good Jobs CBA that meets our demands:
- Racially just hiring: Establishing a “first source hiring hall” to hire at least half of stadium district employees from Kansas City zip codes that have been hit hardest by unemployment due to the city’s history of racial and economic segregation.
- Living wage floor: Setting a wage for stadium jobs that reflects a standard of living for workers to meet our families’ needs and enjoy our lives.
- Labor rights: Ensuring a fair process for the new stadium workers to organize for good union jobs without employer interference.
- Protect current stadium workers: Safeguarding current stadium workers’ ability to keep their jobs at a new Royals stadium while maintaining their collective bargaining agreements and current standards for wages and benefits.
- Affordable housing: Creating truly affordable housing for workers in a new stadium district and preventing evictions and displacement.
Black workers like me used to be able to find good union jobs making steel and packing meat, but those jobs are long gone. Instead we’re disproportionately in low-quality jobs with unlivable wages and the grinding stress of poverty, despite full-time work. Racial equity for Kansas City’s working class begins with a living wage, decent benefits, and predictable schedules for service jobs. A Good Jobs CBA would provide workers with a secure seat at the table and the strong voice on the job needed to tackle racial disparities in our city.
We’re fighting for our futures by demanding a CBA with the Royals. If we are successful, we can raise the floor for service and hospitality work throughout our city for generations to come. We know this is possible, because our siblings in Milwaukee made it happen with the Bucks in 2016. They have shown us what’s possible when we come together around shared demands and shared dreams.
I imagine a few years from now, waking up on a Friday morning knowing I’ll be working an eight-hour day; knowing that when I leave for work, the gas, lights, cable, and rent will be paid. I can tell my wife Moe I’ll be home at 6pm for dinner — and mean it. My family will share a healthy and tasty meal together around our table and after dinner, maybe we go for a movie, or maybe we head to bed early because we have a ball game to catch the next day that we can actually afford tickets to. I’ll end the day knowing I can sleep peacefully and get the break I deserve — the break we all deserve.
I want you to think about what you want for your future, because that’s what winning a Good Jobs CBA is about. Not just a good day, but good weeks, months, and years where we can thrive, our families can thrive, and the people of Kansas City can thrive — for generations to come.
Just earlier this week, we delivered a thousand-plus signature Good Jobs Voter petition to the Royals saying: “John Sherman and the Kansas City Royals must earn our votes on April 2 by signing a Good Jobs Community Benefits Agreement.” I’m asking you to commit to being a Good Jobs Voter today by signing our pledge and holding the team accountable to a Community Benefits Agreement that guarantees what it will take for us to thrive.
The Royals have until March 19 to negotiate a CBA with us. Save the date for an action on that day. It’ll take all of us coming together — low-wage workers, tenants, community allies — to fight back against corporate greed and win the Kansas City that all families deserve.
It’s not complicated: If the Royals want our public dollars for their billionaire playground, the least they can do is use those dollars for the public good. Nothing About Us, Without Us!
