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‘Thousands’ Of Fight For $15 Advocates March On McDonald’s HQ

REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

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A group of Fight for $15 protesters reportedly in the thousands marched on McDonald’s corporate headquarters in Illinois Wednesday in opposition to the company and low wages.

“Thousands marching on McDonald’s HQ right now,” the Fight for $15 movement said in a text message to supporters obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation. “Stand with the marcher by sharing now.”

The Fight for $15 movement has accused the fast-food giant on numerous occasions of taking advantage of workers. The movement has been at the forefront of the push to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour.It announced plans to march against the company May 19 at its corporate headquarters in Illinois.

The movement encouraged supporters to share their own stories about how low wages have impacted them. The protest coincides will McDonald’s annual shareholders’ meeting, which is scheduled for Thursday. McDonald’s shot back by noting it invests in their workers future advancement. The company decided April 2015 to raised wages to $10 an hour for its corporate owned stores.

“In addition to raising the minimum wage for employees at our company-owned restaurants,” McDonald’s Spokeswoman Lisa McComb told TheDCNF. “We also offer employees access to Archways to Opportunity, a set of programs McDonald’s pays for which helps them earn a high school diploma and get needed tuition assistance.”

Those in support of raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour argue it could help lift people out of poverty. Critics warn it 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) found job loss is a possible outcome.

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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