The fast-food worker movement for higher pay will soon go global.
Fast Food Forward, which represents U.S. fast-food workers, announced Wednesday at a press conference outside a McDonald's restaurant in Midtown Manhattan that workers from dozens of countries on six continents are joining the push for higher pay and worker rights.
The group announced nationwide strike plans for May 15 -- a date which mirrors the $15 per hour pay they are demanding. On that same date, workers from dozens of countries on six continents will hold protests at McDonald's, Burger King and KFC outlets. It is not known how many workers will strike, but thousands of the nation's 4 million fast-food workers will take part in the one-day strike.
"We've gone global," said Ashley Cathey, a McDonald's worker from Memphis, Tenn., who makes $7.75 an hour after six years on the job. "Our fight has inspired workers around the world to come together."
The strike will be front-and-center at Mc Donald's annual shareholders meeting on May 22, in Oak Brook, Ill.
On April 29 President Obama asked Congress to raise the national minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour, and earlier this year signed an executive order to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 for individuals working on new federal service contracts.
A week ago workers and union leaders from dozens of countries met for the first global meeting of fast-food workers, organized by the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations, a federation comprised of 396 trade union in 126 countries representing 12 million workers.
In the U.S. strikes will include the first walkouts in Philadelphia, Sacramento, Miami and Orlando. Outside the U.S., the protests will include protests in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, South America and Central America.
Some of the foreign protesters are taking action in sympathy with U.S. workers. Louise Marie Rantzau, who is a McDonald's worker in Denmark, says she makes $21 an hour. "I am surprised to hear U.S. workers have to fight so hard to make $15 an hour, that's why I'm supporting their cause."
edited from USA Today
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