Wage War: Global Fast Food Worker Protest Planned for May 15
The fight for higher pay for fast food workers continues, as employees and supporters from 150 cities across six continents plan a global protest on May 15, to coincide with demands to increase minimum wage to $15 per hour, over the U.S.’s current $7.25.
At a press conference in Manhattan on Wednesday, organizers from Fast Food Forward, which represents New York’s fast food workers, announced a series of demonstrations at McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s and KFC locations to occur next week in 33 different countries, from Italy to Argentina. Projected protests include flash mobs, walk-outs, and sit-ins, with an estimated thousands of participants out of the U.S.’s approximate 4 million industry workers, says USA Today.
“We can’t survive on $7.25!” reads a headline on the Fast Food Forward website, which states that the current minimum wage is not enough to allow workers to afford “basic necessities,” such as rent and transportation.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Golden Arches HQ has been prepping for the protests since April and organizing its global and regional security teams nationwide to “monitor the situation.”