(Reuters) - McDonald's line cooks, Burger King cashiers and other fast-food restaurant workers across the U.S. plan to walk off the job on Thursday in an ongoing battle with their employers to gain a $15 hourly wage, organizers said on Monday.
The protests, announced on Twitter by organizer Fight For 15, come as cities across the nation propose minimum wage increases while Democrats seek to raise the federal minimum wage ahead of this year's mid-term congressional elections.
Fast food workers have launched a series of protests over the last nearly two years to bring awareness to their demands, which include the right to unionize without retaliation.
In one of the last major actions, restaurant workers launched rallies in 150 cities, including Boston, Chicago, New York and Miami in May.
This time, organizers are staging walkouts in more than 100 cities and plan to use nonviolent civil disobedience tactics such as sit-ins, The New York Times reported.
Unlike the protest in May, thousands of home care workers are expected to join in solidarity, the Times reported.
(Reporting by Laila Kearney; Editing by Tom Hogue)
G. Scott I have a job that makes around $15 bucks already and is more difficult than that of a fast food worker. I have a long and steady work history of providing excellent customer service, I look professional, have a firm grasp of the English language, I can actually make change and pride myself of being the best at whatever job I do. To you cashiers demanding $15 bucks an hour, guess what? You will be competing for your own job with me and others like me. So look to see either automation or one of me replacing 2 of you. As the saying goes, be careful what you wish for, you may just get it. 7-1
JW So if we raise the cashiers at Burger King to $15 an hour, then we need to raise retail cashiers to $20 an hours because they usually make a little more then fast food cashiers anyway. Then we will need to raise first line supervisors to about $23 an hour because they have to make more then their retail cashiers and so on and so on. If this starts happening HELLO AUTOMATION. Many restaurants like Sheetz and Wawa already use computer terminals for customers to place their own orders without the need for a person ( and usually when i go to these places and place my own order it's exactly correct because there was no person there who could not speak English taking my order). Cashiers are easily replaced and no business is going to want to pay those wages and no consumer is going to want to pay the increased prices. 7-1
Glenriven On a happy note, PETA will be pleased. On another happy note, I will be packing my own lunc this Thursday and it will be Tuna sandwich, I have not made one in a while, but I remember how good they taste. I need to remember to pick up some of those lays potato chips. Way less greasy than fries and goes great with a tuna sandwich.
Teenagers of America Unite and demand $15 per hour. A can of Tuna cost 3.00 and makes 4 sandwiches. Come to think of it, a bologna and tomatoes sandwich, is pretty dang good. Takes longer to drive to the BK than it does to make the sandwich. 8-1
g okay, what happens when you get that $15/hr ( 31,200 year) and suddenly you don't qualify for all those government subsides you enjoy, you will make too much.
First, fast food stores will cut half of the staff. Once mcdonald has to pay out so much money, food prices for fast food will get so high, it would be cheaper to go to a nice restaurant and get t-bone steak. Suddenly, less people buying mcdonald's, then they have to go into a cost cutting measure and cut more staff.
If want to make 15 dollars an hour, go back and get and education. Stop thinking that you deserve 15 dollars and hour with a highschool education flipping burgers. The state I work in, Nurses start out at 19/hour with a four year degree and you expect 15.
Go ahead let them pay you that amount, but I will not be eating a $10 subsitute beef big mac. They will have to charge that amount to pay the rest of you, once they lay off half of the work force. Salary incease has to come from some where and positon elmination and price increases are the only way to make up the difference, and that still wont be enough.
Good Luck!!!!! But when you or your friend gets laid off as a restructing measure, who are you going to blame then. You got your salary but at the expense of your fellow worker.5-1