Fast Food Workers' Strike Goes Global

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Long John Silver's employee Antwon Brown, 31, joins fellow fast food workers and supporters in a protest outside a Krispy Kreme store on Thursday in Atlanta.

Image: David Goldman/Associated Press

By Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai2014-05-15 14:31:37 UTC

Hundreds of fast food workers are protesting around the U.S. on Thursday, asking for an hourly wage of $15. Some of their fellow workers are joining in around the world — organizers say strikes were planned in 33 countries and 150 cities spanning the globe.

Thursday's protests are expected to be the largest fast food strike in history. They are the culmination of several smaller protests organized over the past 18 months.

Workers are demanding what they consider to be "reasonable" pay, given that the fast food industry is a $200 billion business — and fast food CEOs make 1,200 times as much as their workers. The strikes targeted fast food giants like McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's and KFC, among others.

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Burger King employee Keisha King, 23, stands during a protest outside a Krispy Kreme store on Thursday in Atlanta.

"At the end of the day, there is more than enough money to pay these workers $15 an hour," Kendall Fells, the organizer of Fast Food Forward, a New York City-based campaign to raise workers' wages, told USA Today . "They're just trying to support their families and makes ends meet."

The International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations, a labor federation representing 12 million workers in 126 countries, met in New York last week to give support to Thursday's protest.

Protesters gather outside a Manhattan McDonald's on Thursday morning.

Image: Matt Silverman, Mashable

Fast food workers and supporters protest low wages outside a Krispy Kreme store on Thursday in Atlanta.

Image: David Goldman/Associated Press

The industry thinks the movement's demands are unrealistic, as they would cut into profits, reduce hires and force chains to raise prices. Scott DeFife, an executive vice president for the National Restaurant Association, a trade group, warned of the risks of a wage increase.

"It would have consequences on hiring patterns for Main Street businesses across the country," he told The New York Times .

Labor union members protest at a McDonald's in Tokyo on Thursday.

Image: YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/Getty Images

A protester dressed as Ronald McDonald at a McDonald's in Seoul, South Korea. About 30 labor union members joined the protest there on Thursday to ask higher pay for part-time workers.

Image: Ahn Young-joon/Associated Press

McDonald's issued a careful statement addressing the strikes: "This is an important discussion that needs to take into account the highly competitive nature of the industries that employ minimum-wage workers, as well as consumers and the thousands of small businesses which own and operate the vast majority of McDonald’s restaurants."

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Topics: fast food, labor, labor conditions, strike, U.S., US & World, World

Image: David Goldman/Associated Press