(RepublicanDaily.org) – The Academy Award-winning actor and political activist Susan Sarandon was among people arrested in Albany, New York, during a political protest demanding lawmakers support minimum wage increases for restaurant workers, People magazine reported. Sarandon was arrested along with former New York Lieutenant Governor candidate Ana Maria Archila, Spectrum News 1 reported.
The two famous people were attending a One Fair Wage NY activism group rally. The One Fair Wage NY activism group protests the set price of $17 for minimum wage in New York state, protesting that the fixed wage excluded tipped restaurant workers. Protesters are reportedly angry that restaurant workers were not directly included in the wage increase legislation because restaurant workers are primarily composed of “Black and brown” females, and working mothers, Spectrum 1 stated.
The One Fair Wage NY wants to end the sub-minimum wage of restaurant workers and ensure that they receive minimum wage including tips. Sarandon was previously a restaurant worker and single mother herself.
Local Spectrum 1 reporter Kate Lisa explained that the protestors were actually trying to bait the Albany police to arrest them, describing in a Tweet that they were “trying” to get arrested by pushing police officers and disrupting the Concourse after holding a protest at the Capitol in Albany.
Several of the present protesters were reportedly “confused” why they were not being arrested until finally Sarandon and Archila were among the many to be detained.
The minimum wage increase legislation in New York followed a push across the United States for a minimum wage increase as the inflation crisis drives the cost of living up, the Associated Press reported. Political activists have pushed for a “$20 minimum wage” as inflation continued to bear down on the American public in March, the Associated Press reported.
New York protests in May followed earlier protests in April where New York’s restaurant workers had petitioned to end “sub-minimum” wage, PIX 11 reported.
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