Yahoo Finance Thousands of fast food workers go on strike in the US
Thousands of workers at McDonald's and other fast food outlets across the United States have halted work in the "largest-ever strike" to hit the $200 billion industry.
According to AFP, workers in 60 American cities including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit, Milwaukee and Indianapolis, have joined the fight for $15 an hour wage -- double what most currently earn -- and the right to form a union without retaliation, organisers said.
"They make millions that come from our feet. They can afford to pay us better," Shaniqua Davis, 20, told AFP at a demonstration outside a McDonald's on New York's posh Fifth Avenue.
Davis has a one-year-old child and works at a branch of the restaurant in the Bronx where she earns $7.25 an hour.
"I have bills to pay. I need to buy diapers. I can hardly buy food. I am treated good but we need more money."
"Hey hey, ho ho, poverty wages gotta go!"
Bloomberg reports that about 200 workers showed up at the two-story Rock N Roll McDonald's store in Chicago's River North neighbourhood this morning chanting: "Hey hey, ho ho, poverty wages gotta go!"
If the minimum wage were raised to $US10.50, fast-food restaurants would see about 2.7 percent higher costs, according to a letter signed by economists in July in support of raising the federal minimum wage.
The eateries could absorb those cost increases by raising menu prices and by allowing low-wage workers to get more of the business's revenue, it said.
Kendall Fells of the campaign group Fast Food Forward hit out at working conditions for people who had "no health insurance, no guarantee of hours."
"In (New York City) they make $7.25 an hour. If you look at any statistics of how much it takes you to survive in NYC, just food, clothing and rent, it's over $20 an hour."
The protest movement first began in New York last November with a strike by 200 workers but quickly spread across the country with strikes in July taking place in Chicago, Detroit, Flint, Kansas City, Milwaukee and St Louis.
What they earn
Business Insider reached out to Glassdoor to find out how much the top fast food companies pay workers.
It found only one of the companies pays crew members above $10 an hour on average.
Taco Bell ($7.37 an hour)
Wendy's ($7.39 an hour)
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Burger King ($7.72 an hour)
McDonald's ($7.81 an hour)
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Dunkin' Donuts ($7.82 an hour)
Dairy Queen ($7.92 an hour)
Chick-Fil-A ($7.96 an hour)
Subway ($7.98 an hour)
Jamba Juice ($8.18 an hour)
Noodles & Company ($8.29 an hour)
Panera Bread ($8.36 an hour)
Chipotle ($8.57 an hour)
In-N-Out Burger ($10.53 an hour)
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