Fast-Food Workers Plan to Strike in 15 Cities to Demand $15 an Hour

Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Amy Furr

Fast-food workers in 15 cities across the United States plan to strike Friday, hoping to convince the incoming Biden administration to raise the federal minimum wage.

“The strikes, which are being organized by Fight for $15 and a Union, are demanding just that — a $15 hourly minimum wage and the right to unionize without retaliation,” Fox Business reported Thursday.

The group announced the event in a tweet Wednesday, stating, “Workers will not back down until everyone makes at least $15”:

Fight for $15’s website said essential workers “voted for a president who promised to stand with workers and deliver racial and economic justice – now it’s up to us to hold them to their word”:

The Biden/Harris transition team MUST prioritize our lives as they plan for their first 100 days:

  • $15/hr federal minimum wage

  • Rewrite the rules to make it easier to join a union

  • Racial justice in our communities

  • Healthcare we can afford

  • Hold McDonald’s and other giant employers accountable for their failure to protect essential workers on the frontlines of the pandemic

During a recent press conference, President-elect Joe Biden (D) said he has long advocated rewarding work, not only wealth, in the country, according to Breitbart News:

People in both parties now both recognize it’s time to raise the minimum wage so hard working people earn at least $15 an hour, minimum. No one, no one should work as millions are doing today, 40 hours a week at a job and still live below the poverty line. They’re entitled to at least the $15 minimum wage per hour.

However, critics have said raising the federal minimum wage would strain employers and could put some companies out of business, the Fox article continued.

“For now, at least, raising the minimum wage is currently a decision left up to each state, many of whom have plans to increase hourly pay in 2021,” the outlet said.

Meanwhile, burger-flipping robots appear to be changing the industry by offering their services to restaurants for about $3 an hour, Breitbart News reported in February.

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