Strike on Fast Food

Fast food corporations are publicly, once again, being forced to hear the cries of the struggling working class.  Staff of food franchises have been coming together through acts of civil disobedience in the name of justice.

Laborers from about 150 cities are conducting rallies for their rights to join a union and financially provide for their families. Their fight mainly centers on raising the minimum wage to $15/hour.  The slogan for the protests has been #StrikeFastFood, used as a Twitter hashtag to spread awareness of the cause.

#StrikeFastFood has been happening since November 2012, but it has recently experienced a spike of interest after President Obama’s Labor Day speech.

As reported by Huffington Post, “All across the country right now there’s a national movement going on made up of fast-food workers organizing to lift wages so they can provide for their families with pride and dignity,” said Obama, “There is no denying a simple truth. America deserves a raise.” 

While many fast food companies have remained silent to the situations, McDonald’s has released a statement in response.

As reported by USA Today, “We believe that any minimum wage increase should be implemented over time so that the impact on owners and small- and medium-sized businesses — like the ones who own and operate the majority of our restaurants — is manageable.” 

The strikes released years of frustration for many, as anger has been displayed through the quotes from multiple rioting employees.

As reported by NBC News, “They say the economy is getting better, but we’re still making $7.50,” said Latoya Caldwell, a worker at Wendy’s. “Nobody should work 40 hours a week and find themselves homeless, without enough money to buy them and their kids food, needing public assistance.”  

For students at Urbana High School, a minimum wage job is a way to make their own extra spending money.
To get a point of view of a fast food worker, I spoke to UHS Senior Abrianna Uher. “I used to make $8.25 an hour working as a cashier at KFC,” said Uher.

“I wasn’t satisfied with the job but there was a good environment. That’s too much, it should be raised but that’s too high,” said Uher when asked about the efforts to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Her reasons for support of higher pay was her previous coworkers, “I had coworkers in their late 20’s that were trying to provide for their families,” said Uher.