McDonald’s employees and other low-wage Atlanta workers will ride the bus Tuesday evening to Chicago to protest the salaries paid by the fast food giant and its franchisees.
Organizers expect 10,000 low-wage workers from across the country to descend upon McDonald’s headquarters in Oak Brook on Wednesday and Thursday during the annual shareholder meeting. They’re rallying under the Fight For $15 banner, a union-led push to raise the hourly wages of low-income Americans.
“We can’t support ourselves,” said Edonna James who works at McDonald’s in Atlanta. “We’re homeless and taken advantage of. We depend on others to survive (and) sometimes depend on public assistance. McJobs don’t just cost those of us who work at McDonald’s — they cost us all.”
James will be joined by Metro Atlanta fast food, home care, child care workers and others. Atlanta low-wage workers typically start at $7.25 an hour, the federally mandated minimum wage.
The push for $15 an hour gains momentum. More than 50 states, including New York and California, and cities have raised the minimum wage since 2012 when the fight for higher wages began. Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders also support a $15 wage.
Georgia law, though, prohibits municipalities including Atlanta from raising the minimum wage. The Employment Policies Institute, and other conservative groups, say a $15 minimum wage will lead to higher prices, layoffs and automation of jobs.
McDonald’s announced last year it would pay $1 more than the local minimum wage at its 1,500 restaurants. The decision, though, doesn’t impact employees at franchises.
