The protests and strikes are aimed at gaining candidates’ support heading into the 2016 election for a minimum wage of $15 an hour and union rights, it said.
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According to organizers there will also be a rally at City Hall at 4:15 p.m. on Tuesday.
Organizers says this is not about endorsing a specific candidate, party or piece of legislation, but calling attention to the pool of potential voters earning less than $15 an hour.
Last December the group staged similar protests in a few 200 cities.
“We’re putting politicians on notice that we’re going to hold them accountable”, says Kendall Fells, the organizing director of Fight for $15, a group funded by the Service Employees global Union.
The strikes and protests will include workers from McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, KFC and other restaurants, the statement said.
Democratic Party presidential frontrunners Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have made income inequality a centerpiece of their campaigns, while many Republican Party contenders say raising the federal minimum wage would hurt job growth.
There are millions of votes at stake, given that approximately 42% of the U.S. workforce makes less than $15 an hour.
Tuesday marks exactly one year until the presidential election.
“I live in a boarding house and it’s very hard, but I can’t afford a one bedroom apartment”, she says.
The movement has been credited with coaxing cities such as Seattle and Los Angeles to raise their hourly minimums to $15 an hour, and with pressuring companies such as Wal-Mart, Target and McDonald’s to increase worker pay.
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Fast food workers in the Mid-South are expected to join the largest strike to hit America’s fast food industry today.
