Think back to what you were doing early in the morning of Sept. 4th. It’s possible in those hours before dawn you were still asleep. For about 100 protesters, there was no time for rest.

That morning there was a line of people that blocked Mack Avenue in east Detroit, next to a well known fast food restaurant. The blockade was a protest organized by the D15 campaign, a local branch of a large scale effort to raise the minimum wage to $15 and establish unions for employees at fast food chains. Lincoln Park resident Mya Hill was one of the participants there that early morning, as she is one of the delegates for the D15 movement.

Hill, 24, works as a crew member at a local Checkers restaurant where she currently makes Michigan’s minimum wage of $8.15. Her hourly rate had been slightly over the previous minimum wage of $7.40.

Her recent increase in pay was perhaps not given to her by her employer voluntarily; Michigan recently passed legislation to increase the minimum wage over the next several years. Hill appeared hopeful that with the increase she would keep the amount she was making above it previously, but her hopes were dashed when she met with management. These hourly wages are what make her a “workaholic” so she can provide for her family, and what also fuels her commitment to the D15 movement.

Hill has been involved with the movement since it started here in the Detroit area with their first strike in May of 2013. She says she’s always a bit anxious at the start of a protest, but then when she sees how many people support this campaign and, like her, recognize that it is time for a change, she gets excited and feels a sense of empowerment.

“[$15] is a living wage,” she says. But more than the wage, the campaign has focused attention on forming a union for the workers. “I want someone who will hear my problems and help me solve them.” The relationship between the workers and the corporations is unbalanced, she feels, and a union would help empower her and fellow workers. While the workers she encounters may accept their hourly rates, Hill still works to get the message out that they are possibly worth more.

When asked what a $15 minimum wage would mean to her, Hill immediately answered, “Life insurance. I’m not sure when my time is and I want my family to be taken care of.” There was a pause as she explained she needed a moment as the weight of her words caught up with her.

She continued, explaining that life would be much less hectic. Her family’s lives are defined by the constant rush of her and her children’s father working to provide for them. They share the family bike to commute to work, balance childcare duties, and pick up shifts whenever they can. If Hill made $15 an hour, she feels that things wouldn’t be such a scramble. Life could be balanced. “I could have mom-time,” she said, reflecting on how little “mom-time” her current schedule allows for.

When asked about her opinion on September’s protest, Hill expressed a sense of satisfaction with the day’s events and her confidence in the campaign as it moves forward.

“We are making a difference and making history,” she says, in what seemed to be support for her cause and those who advocate for it. She speaks about how individuals can come together and the actions they are taking will ensure a better future for her children and her children’s children.
And with her work with the D15 campaign, they may have a good future ahead.