McDonald’s chicken nuggets and Burger King Whoppers might be a little bit more difficult to get your hands on this Thursday, as thousands of fast food workers across the country plan a strike. The purpose? To demand that the minimum wage for the nation’s four million fast-food workers be raised to $15 an hour and to allow the workers to unionize.
The nationwide strike is being coordinated by local coalitions and Fast Food Forward and Fight for 15, union-backed groups. This is the second strike for this movement. The last one took place back in May across 150 cities and shut down a handful of fast food restaurants.
This particular protest could represent a major escalation for the movement, however, MSNBC reports. Unlike any previous strikes in the fast food industry, Thursday’s action is expected to feature acts of civil disobedience, risking the arrest of workers.
The announcement of Thursday’s protest also coincided with a supportive statement by President Obama during the Milwaukee Laborfest Monday.
” All across the country right now, there’s a national movement going on made up of fast food workers organizing to lift wages so they can provide for their families with pride and dignity. There is no denying a simple truth: America deserves a raise. Folks are doing very well on Wall Street, they’re doing very well in the corporate board rooms — give America a raise,” Obama said.
The president also added that if he had a service-sector job, and “wanted an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work, I’d join a union.”
Curiously, the Service Employees International Union is also encouraging home-care aides to join in the protests and to fight for a $15 minimum wage, the New York Times reports.
The union offered no information about why home-care aides and fast food workers should make the same base pay.
“They want to join,” SEIU president Mary Kay Henry told the Times. “They think their jobs should be valued at $15.”
A $15 minimum wage is more than double the federal minimum wage of $7.25 and would be a major jump for the industry.
Though supporters argue that economic research shows that “moderate raises” does not impact employment, opponents argue that a doubling of wages is not moderate. They believe this could lead to even higher levels of unemployment or significant increases in the price of food at these establishments.
