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 The money, which has gone to labor groups, lawyers and others
involved in the effort, has provided financial firepower for a
movement that has made surprising progress in its push for lifting
wages, successfully making the issue part of the public
conversation.
In recent months, cities have passed or introduced laws to require
higher minimum wages within their boundaries. Wal-Mart Stores and
McDonald's Corp, among a number of big employers, have raised
minimum pay. And on Wednesday, organizers say, tens of thousands of
people will fan out across 200 U.S. cities in the biggest rally
since the campaign got its start in late 2012.
But the union's critics are focused on another number: zero. That's
the tally of fast-food workers who have joined SEIU's membership
rolls since the campaign began. And with McDonald's and other
deep-pocketed fast-food chains determined to fight back any attempts
at unionization, organizing the industry is an objective that even
labor advocates warn might not be achievable.
The lack of organizing success to date has led some to ask whether
the union should continue spending large sums to better the lives of
workers who are unlikely to become members. One SEIU organizer, who
spoke on condition of anonymity, said members would get "restless"
if progress on boosting membership wasn't evident after a few years.
 U.S. fast-food workers have been notoriously difficult to organize
due to high turnover and a fragmented industry structure. Most
outlets are independently operated by franchisees and have generally
been considered legally separate from the parent chain. That means
organizing efforts would have to be waged restaurant by restaurant.
“The SEIU is on a failed mission,” said Rick Berman, a powerful
lobbyist for the tobacco, alcohol and food and beverage industries,
who is using his groups such as the Center for Union Facts (CUF) to
oppose SEIU and low-wage workers. “Most of these fast-food strikes
are the equivalent of a Potemkin village."
Mary Kay Henry, president of the SEIU, which has nearly 2 million
members, disagrees, saying the McDonald's and Wal-Mart pay hikes
have helped shift the balance of power toward workers. She said
pundits and business groups had underestimated the movement's impact
on wages and was doing so again on its prospects for unionizing
low-wage workers.
"We are quite confident there will be a breakthrough in having the
union recognized as part of this growing movement," she told
Reuters. "We think a settlement in fast-food would be catalytic for
other kinds of workers in the service sector, like Wal-Mart, like
home care workers, like childcare workers, like workers at airports
all across this nation."
The SEIU wouldn’t say exactly how much it has spent in its efforts
on behalf of low-wage workers. But the Employment Policies Institute
(EPI), a research arm of Berman's CUF, estimates the union has spent
some $50 million on an array of local worker committees, lawyers and
consultants that have worked on a broad campaign to help low-wage
workers, including efforts to influence legislation at the state and
city level.
Of that total, Reuters was able to independently verify in SEIU's
annual filings $24 million allocated to 8 worker organizations whose
stated purpose, as cited in labor department filings or online job
advertisements, was to work for better conditions in the fast-food
and retail industries. That compares to the approximately $28
million the union put toward getting Barack Obama elected president
in 2008.
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SEIU's annual report showed a pattern of increased spending last
year. For instance, outlays to the Fast Food Workers Committee, one
of the worker organizations, more than doubled to $3.8 million,
while public relations firm Berlin Rosen took in $1.3 million, up
from around $850,000 in 2013.
TOUGH OPPOSITION
Henry said the SEIU in the United States is following examples set
in Australia and Denmark, where unionized fast-food workers have
hammered out labor agreements. The union here faces well-funded
opposition on myriad fronts, however, something that was not as big
a factor in the other countries.
The National Restaurant Association and the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce, which are among the roughly two dozen business groups to
have opposed raising the minimum wage, together spent $342.4 million
to lobby U.S. lawmakers from 2012 to 2014, according to data
compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics’ OpenSecrets.org.
Groups such as Berman’s CUF fight the fast-food industry’s public
relations battles. And, the International Franchise Association,
which represents large franchisors and franchisees, is flexing its
political muscle as well.
Still, Sarita Gupta, executive director at Jobs With Justice, a
worker advocacy group involved in the "Fight for 15" campaign, said
worker groups will continue to target state and city efforts to
improve pay and working conditions for workers whether or not they
are in unions. She cited as an example a bill introduced in
Connecticut, co-sponsored by the local SEIU chapter, that would fine
large employers who fail to pay at least $15 per hour.
For SEIU the question of whether it can turn fast-food workers into
dues-paying members is nevertheless important. Critics say failure
to make gains quickly could raise doubts among the more highly
skilled workers whose dues are financing the campaign.
SEIU's Henry brushed aside such critiques, saying union members were
solidly behind the movement and seeing tangible benefits. She
pointed to the Los Angeles Unified School District and Johns Hopkins
Hospital among employers who had agreed to a $15 an hour wage floor
in recent negotiations with SEIU members.
"Frankly I'm not worried about it," she said.
(Reporting by Nathan Layne in Chicago and Lisa Baertlein in Los
Angeles; Editing by David Greising and Sue Horton)
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