Fighting the Good Fight: Fast Food Workers on Strike

            “No soup for you!” This line made famous in an episode of Seinfeld could now state, in 150 major cities across the nation, “No hamburger for you!”

            Fed up with being unable to earn a living wage, fast food workers across the nation have taken to the streets in a display of civil disobedience to draw attention to their plight. A few demonstrators have been arrested for sitting down in the streets and blocking traffic.

Some fast food workers earn near the minimum wage with a salary of $7.25 an hour or approximately $15,000 a year. This does not translate to a decent living wage for most. The disparity in salaries between the CEO’s of such fast food chains and the workers who man the counters serving food to the masses is startling. CEO’s of such companies earn 700 times the salary of the employees staffing the counters to serve people their burgers. CEO’s of the fast food chains on one day of business earn more than most of the employees in the restaurants earn in a year. 

New York State attorney general Eric Schneiderman issued a statement in support of the workers. "Nobody who works 40 hours a week should have to live in poverty, and this starts with raising the minimum wage. I applaud the fast food workers across New York State who are standing up for their rights and fighting for a living wage."

The strike comes just days after President Obama’s Milwaukee Labor Day speech in support of the Fight for $15 movement. "All across the country right now, there's a national movement going on made up of fast-food workers organizing to life wages so they can provide for their families with pride and dignity," Obama said.

The public may be temporarily inconvenienced with the inability to get their Big Mac or their Popeye’s chicken, but it is a small sacrifice to make to be supportive of the fast food workers who seem to be fighting the good fight.

Photo credit: John Taggart