Thousands of fast-food workers across the country walked off their jobs today in an ongoing dispute over what they call “livable wages.”
Workers in New York, Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, Milwaukee and Michigan all walked out in solidarity early Monday, crippling the operations of such fast food restaurants as McDonald’s, Wendy’s, KFC, Taco Bell and Papa John’s Pizza, according to the Washington Post.
News reports added workers are seeking a wage increase to $15 an hour, more than double the $7.25 many of them are forced to accept when they begin working for such companies.
The one-day strike is backed by community groups and labor unions, including the Service Employees International Union. Earlier this year, President Barack Obama called for an increase in the minimum wage to $9 per hour, but lawmakers have yet to take any action on the proposed legislation. The federal minimum wage was last raised in 2007 to the current $7.25 per hour.
The protests are also supported by a growing network of community, clergy and labor groups across the country, according to The Post. Organizers said low-paid workers from other such companies as Macy’s, Dollar Tree and Victoria Secret are also soon expected to join the demonstrations.
“SEIU members, like all service-sector workers, are worse off when large fast-food and retail companies are able to hold down wages and push down benefit standards for working people,” SEIU president Mary Kay Henry told the media.
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