New York City fast food workers are expected to walk off the job this morning in a one-day strike, Josh Eidelson at Salon reports.
The chains involved are McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King, KFC, Domino's, Taco Bell and Papa John's.
Why are the workers walking out?
"They're not paying us enough to survive," 21-year-old McDonald's worker Raymond Lopez tells Salon. "This company has enough money to pay us a reasonable amount for all that we do … they’re just not going to give it to us as long as they can get away with it."
Strikers are hoping to unionize and get wages raised to $15 an hour, Steven Greenhouse at The New York Times reports.
Lopez, who says he makes $8.75 an hour as a shift manager, also complained about "verbal abuse" and having to work off the clock "all of the time."
“Everything we do needs to be fast, needs to be perfect,” Lopez tells Salon. “When you’re actually there for eight hours smiling like you’re on the Miss Universe contest, it’s not easy."
Labor issues have been squarely in the spotlight lately, with the Hostess bankruptcy claiming thousands of jobs and Walmart workers staging a 1,000-store protest on Black Friday.
Strikes in fast food are rare, since the industry is almost entirely bereft of unions.
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