Fast-Food Workers Strike Again
Fast-Food Workers Strike Again
Fast-food workers from McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's and KFC restaurants staged protests in more than 150 U.S. cities on Thursday. Workers struggling on the minimum wage or slightly more want to double their pay to $15 an hour. They also are seeking the right to join a union.
“It is an act of extraordinary courage on the part of these working people,” Sen. Bernie Sanders told radio host Ed Schultz during a mid-day interview. “There’s a mythology out there that says ‘Well, you know, the people who work at McDonald’s and Burger King, they’re just kids and they’re making some afterschool money’. That is not the truth. The vast majority of these people are working families. I was in Mississippi last week talking to a mother who has four kids who’s worked at McDonald’s for years, and that’s true all over the country.
“Today, people at these fast food places are being paid a starvation wage. That’s the only way I can describe it. Seven and a quarter, seven fifty, eight bucks. They have no health insurance because what McDonalds and Burger King offer is something that they can’t afford. So these people are being exploited, and they’re now going out on the streets and they’re standing up for justice, and I have just enormous respect for their courage in doing so,” Sanders said.
