The Fight for $15 movement announced plans Thursday to march on McDonald’s corporate headquarters in opposition to the company and low wages.
McDonald’s has been accused on numerous occasions of taking advantage of workers by paying them low wages. The Fight for $15 movement has been at the forefront of the push to enact a higher minimum wage. The movement announced plans to march against the company May 25 at its corporate headquarters in Illinois.
“FightFor15 is marching on McDonald’s HQ next week to fight low pay and the race to the bottom,” a movement organizer said in a text message to supporters, which was obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation. “We’re going to share your message at the huge protest Wednesday.”
Supporters were encouraged to share their stories about how low wages have impacted them. The protest will coincide will McDonald’s annual shareholders’ meeting, which is scheduled for the following day. Fight for $15 has held numerous protest against McDonald’s over the years alongside a handful of other large corporations.
Minimum wage proponents argue it could help lift people out of poverty. The higher wages means those at the bottom of the income ladder could start buying more basic necessities, which would benefit the general economy.
Opposition counters that raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour could actually hurt the very people it’s meant to help. Employers could be forced to cutback their workforce or raise prices to overcome the added cost of labor. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has found any increase of the minimum wage could result in at least some job loss.
New York and California both became the first states Apr. 4 to raise their minimum wages to $15 an hour. Advocates have also seen victories on the city level starting with Seattle in June, 2014. The movement launched what it claimed was the biggest protest Apr. 14 which evolved rallies in cities across the country.
The Fight for $15 has been marketed as a grassroots movement but skeptics have expressed doubt. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) indirectly spent $18.6 million on the movement in the past year alone. It’s accused of being an organizing drive for the SEIU since unions are restricted by law on how they can unionize workers. Nonunion labor groups aren’t restricted in the same way but are forbidden from organizing workers without filing a petition for an election.
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