Fast-Food Workers Cry Poverty Wages As McDonald's Buys Luxury Jet
When you're making eight bucks an hour, which is pretty typical in the fast-food industry, it's tough to make ends meet.
And increasingly, the working poor are asking this question: Why am I living in poverty, even when I'm working full time?
That's the message that thousands of fast-food workers rallying Thursday in about 100 U.S. cities — from Oakland to Memphis to Washington, D.C. — want heard. A living wage in big cities is closer to $14 an hour, and it jumps to about $20 an hour for an adult supporting a child.
The protests are part of a growing campaign backed by a coalition of advocacy groups, religious organizations and union organizers aimed at raising fast-food wages to $15 an hour.
At at time when the fastest-growing jobs in the U.S. economy are also the lowest-paid, the issue of income inequality is on the lips of leaders worldwide.
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