Thousands of Fast Food Workers Strike
City-Times Staff
Thousands of fast-food workers from restaurants including McDonald’s and Wendy’s will walk off the job beginning today, calling for $15-an-hour pay.
The one-day strike is expected in larger cities, including Milwaukee and Madison. Workers are demanding the right to form a union without retaliation.
The Service Employees International Union is providing money to the campaigns and helping to organize the strikes.
American fast-food and retail workers have been striking this year for higher wages. In April, employees from McDonald’s and Yum! Brands Inc., which owns the KFC and Taco Bell chains, joined workers from Macy’s Inc. and the Victoria’s Secret chain in walking off the job in Chicago and New York for higher pay.
Congress last voted to raise the federal minimum wage in 2007 and President Barack Obama’s call to raise it to $9 an hour from $7.25 has recently gone nowhere with lawmakers.