Fast Food Workers Walk Off Job in Wisconsin as #FastFoodStrikes Sweep Nation

Wisconsin fast food workers are not staying silent. On August 29, fast food workers in Wisconsin made history by walking out on strike as part of the largest day of worker action in the history of the fast food industry. Today, the movement continues to gain momentum as workers in Madison, Milwaukee and Wausau strike for higher pay and the right to form their own union without interference or retaliation from their employers. Workers are striking in over 100 cities to mark one year of protests for $15 and a union.

As the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports, DeVonte Yates, a McDonald's worker in Milwaukee, earns $7.25 an hour, a wage that constantly forces him to make choices. 

"Do I want to keep my phone on or the lights? Do I want to get a late fee on my college tuition or buy books? The choices go on," said Yates, 21, who is studying criminal justice at Milwaukee Area Technical College.

Mary Coleman, 59, who works at Popeye's is a mother of two.  "I can't feed myself or my family on $7.25," said Coleman.  "I want to trade in my food stamp card for a union card."

“Fast food workers across the country struggle to make ends meet daily while McDonald's and other multinational fast food chains reap billions in yearly profits and pay CEOs, who have hardly seen the inside of a kitchen, millions of dollars in compensation,” said Phil Neuenfeldt, President of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO. “Something has to change. Income inequality is growing and too many working families are on the brink of poverty in America because economic gains are not being shared with those who labor and do the work.”

“If anyone tells you that McDonald's can’t afford to pay their workers a living wage, they haven’t looked at the numbers,” said Stephanie Bloomingdale, Secretary-Treasurer of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO. “Our low-wage sector is growing. It is not teenagers in the fast food industry anymore. It is mothers, fathers and grandparents who have worked for years, sometimes decades, at McDonald's. These workers make the company successful and profitable. They deserve more than $7.25 an hour and the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO is proud to march in solidarity with fast food workers in Wisconsin.”

McWages don’t work for anyone. Fast food chains like McDonald's make billions in profit by paying poverty wages that force the families of their workers on to public assistance. A recent report by University of California, Berkeley revealed that the families of more than half of fast food workers, the majority of whom are women over 28, are forced to rely on public assistance to get by. The report found that fast food companies’ low pay ends up costing Wisconsin $166 million every year and $7 billion a year nationally.

Follow the action by searching the hashtag #fastfoodstrikes on social media sites and the internet.

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