Kansas City McDonald’s worker and Fight for $15 activist Kim Lawson traveled to Washington, DC to testify before a Democratic Women’s Caucus #MeToo hearing on Capitol Hill. Lawson told the members of Congress about why unions should be a part of the solution to combatting sexual harassment in the workplace, and talked about her own experiences with sexual harassment. She also shared what it’s like to raise her five-year-old daughter on $9.45 an hour and her collective fight for union rights to ensure this doesn’t happen to anyone else.
“Together, with workers, community organizations, and elected leaders like yourselves, we must build the collective power to force McDonald’s to change the culture of harassment and exploitation at their stores,” said Lawson. “We must force the company to actually respect the needs and the voices of workers like me, by sitting down at the table and letting those of us affected by the problem help drive the solution. If they don’t hear our experiences, if they don’t respect our voices, then sexual harassment will continue.”
Lawson’s testimony was so powerful, that one of the Congresswomen in attendance--Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX)--used her story later that day on the House floor during the debate on the PRO Act, which would make it easier for workers across the country to join together in a union.
