US fast-food workers plan to strike in 100 cities this week
A worker in a fast food restaurant serves up lunch in the food court of the Ronald Reagan Building on November 18, 2008, in Washington, DC. Low wage workers in ten states, including many fast food employees, will be getting a pay raise in 2013 as the minimum wage increases.
Fast-food workers in about 100 cities will strike on Thursday in a bid to gain leverage for their push for higher wages.
The strike is being organized by a coalition of labor groups including Fast Food Forward, Fight for 15, USAction and United Students against Sweatshops, and is backed by the Service Employees International Union.
Strike organizers have called for companies like McDonald’s, Pizza Hut and Wendy’s to pay their workers $15 an hour.
Workers in New York City held the first fast-food strike in US history in Nov. 2012. Since then, there have been several strikes protesting low wages with mixed results, crippling some restaurants but making no difference to others.
More from GlobalPost: New York fast-food workers strike for higher wages
Strike organizers said the upcoming strike would see workers walk off the job for the first time in Charleston, SC, Providence, RI, and Pittsburgh.
The National Restaurant Association has said that increasing pay to $15 an hour would cause restaurants to hire fewer workers.