This Thursday will see the biggest strike in history as workers from American fast food chain workers protest poor health care and low wages.
Terrence Wise, a Burger King worker and Fight for 15 organizing committee member, announced Monday night that workers plan to hold the strike outside stores nationwide, including in states such as New York, Wisonsin, Missouri and California.
The strike is a continuation of the on-going dispute between the fast food companies and their employees. It will be the seventh organized protest from the first time workers walked out out of their jobs in November 2012. It's noted that each walkout gets bigger than the last, so the one planned for Thursday is no exception.
In a convention held in Chicago in July, more than 1,300 minimum-wage workers gather to relay their demands for better working conditons and higher salaries. It was organized by Service Employees International Union (SEIU), one of the largest unions in the US with two million members including health care workers, janitors and other members of the service sector. They approved in the convention for a nonviolent civil disobedience to fight for an increased minimum wage of $15 an hour .
The Fight for 15 movement resulted after National Labor Relations defineds McDonald's, the largest fast food company in the US, as a joint employer. SEIU brought forward cases alleging McDonald's act as the employer. The fast food companys continues to insist that the franchise owners are responsible for the workers' wages.
It's believed that the numerous stirikes happening in the country urged President Barack Obama to prioritize the increase on minimum wage. In a speech in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the president acknowleged the movement across the country as proof that "America deserves a raise."
The nationwide strike planned for Thursday aims to invoke civil rights history. Members of other service sectors are encouraged to join the protest.
