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Atlanta low-wage protesters demand $15 an hour

By Dan Chapman
April 14, 2016

Fast food, home health care and other low-wage workers rallied in Atlanta and more than 300 cities Thursday demanding a minimum wage of $15 an hour. Momentum, seemingly, is on their side.

New York and California recently established a minimum wage of $15 an hour. Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have also called for a $15 wage.

In Atlanta, fast-food workers on Northside Drive protested outside McDonald’s for higher wages at 6 a.m. McDonald’s workers in Atlanta typically start at $7.25 an hour, the current federal minimum wage. Protesters at a lunchtime rally downtown demanded higher wages and the right to join a union.

More than 50 states and cities have raised the minimum wage since 2012 when the nationwide, union-led fight for higher wages began.

The Employment Policies Institute, and other conservative groups, say a $15 minimum wage will lead to higher prices, layoffs and automation of burger-flipping jobs.

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Dan Chapman
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