Fast-food and other low-wage workers in more than 60 cities—from major metropolises like New York City to smaller cities such as Missoula, Mont.—walked off the job Thursday as the fight for a living wage and the right to join a union without retaliation continues to grow.
Shaniqua Davis, who works at a Bronx McDonald’s and is the mother of a two-year-old, tells the New York Daily News:
I’m not going to stay quiet. I’m going to continue to fight....I’ve got a daughter to take care of. I struggle to make ends meet.
In Kansas City, Mo., more than two dozen workers demonstrated at a Church’s Chicken restaurant, while fast-food workers in Seattle and Tacoma, Wash., marched on Arby’s, Burger King, Jimmy John’s, Papa John’s, Specialty’s Café and Bakery and Wendy’s.
Garrett McMahon, a worker at Specialty’s (a mostly West Coast chain), tells The Seattle Times:
It was definitely scary walking out. But I feel if I don’t do something, countless people are going to be stuck in the same rut I am.
Looks like Hamburgler & Ronald agree, workers deserve a living wage! #829strike #strikefor15 pic.twitter.com/65MxP01kkE
— Fight For 15 (@fightfor15) August 29, 2013
The strike comes a day after the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Among the demands of the 1963 march was for a minimum wage of $2 an hour, which would translate into $15.50 today—50 cents more than what today’s worker are seeking.
Check out the latest from Salon’s Josh Eideleson for an in-depth look at the fast-food movement.
So much love & solidarity & support for #829strike here in Peoria where workers & community @fightfor15 pic.twitter.com/HqaTf3ZBaY
— 829strikepeoria (@829strikepeoria) August 29, 2013