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On Monday, workers from major fast-food chains such as KFC, Wendy’s, Burger King and McDonald’s in seven cities — Detroit, New York City, Milwaukee, Chicago, St. Louis, Flint, Mich., and Kansas City, Mo. — will be staging a strike in a movement for higher wages. Reuters.

From IBT:

On Monday, workers from major chains including KFC, Wendy’s, Burger King and McDonald’s in seven cities will be staging a strike in a protest for better wages. The workers are hoping the protests — which will occur in Detroit, New York, Milwaukee, Chicago, St. Louis, Flint, Mich., and Kansas City, Mo. — will prompt employers of popular fast-food chains to raise pay to a “living wage” of $15 an hour.

KMBZ in Kansas City reported that the protests, part of an ongoing movement dubbed “Fast Food Forward,” will begin on Monday and are expected to continue through Thursday. The protesters in the seven cities are calling for the hourly-rate hike as well as the right to form a union without retaliation and an end to unfair labor practices.

The New York Daily News reported that strikes in Brooklyn [began] as early as Friday, involving workers from Papa John’s and Domino’s as well as other chains. The action will mark the third such strike in a year, following similar protests in April (in Detroit, New York, Milwaukee, Chicago and St. Louis) and last November.

According to the Washington Post, the strikes in these seven cities extend beyond the fast food business, with employees at other low-wage stores including Dollar Tree, Macy’s and Victoria’s Secret slated to join the protests.

The protesters have been backed by support from communities as well as labor groups such as the Service Employees International Union. “SEIU members, like all service-sector workers, are worse off when large fast-food and retail companies are able to hold down wages and push down benefit standards for working people,” SEIU president Mary Kay Henry told the Washington Post.

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