Fast Food Workers Amp Up for Global Strike on May 15

When fast food workers on six different continents threatening to go on strike for higher pay and worker rights, it might be wise to consider giving them what they want. Fast Food Forward, a group that represents U.S. fast food workers announced plans for a nationwide fast food workers strike beginning on May 15—a strike that will happen on six different continents in front of fast food chains like McDonald’s, Burger King, and KFC.

Workers are demanding a $15 per hour pay rate, which is more than twice the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. Fast food workers often only get paid minimum wage or slightly higher, even after years on the job or as managers. The fast food industry has battled with workers for years over fair pay, and it’s clearly an issue that’s not going anywhere fast.

Earlier this year, President Obama implored Congress to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour over the course of two years, a bid that was rejected by Republican senators, who say that raising the minimum wage would cost people their jobs.

Minimum wage has increased over the years, but not at a rate that matches inflation and rising costs of living. In 1968, for example, someone working full time at minimum wage would have brought home $19,245 per year in today’s dollars. However, someone working full time at minimum wage today only brings home $15,080 per year. That’s below the poverty line for a family of two.

Bill Moyer’s “Rethinking Our Minimum Wage” provides some intriguing insights into the American minimum wage, including what the annual earnings have been for a minimum wage worker since 1968 and what the minimum wage would be today if it had been tied to the economic index in 1968 (Answer: $28 per hour, if tied to earnings of the 1%).

It’s worth mentioning that not all fast food workers are paid so poorly. For example, Louise Marie Rantzau, a McDonald’s employee in Denmark, says she makes the equivalent of $21 per hour. She plans to participate in the global strike anyway, however, as a way to show support for U.S. and other workers that are fighting just to make $15 per hour.