US low wage workers call for new strike

Thousands of frustrated fast-food and retail workers in the US are planning another job strike across the country next week to protest low wages.

Backed by labor unions and religious groups, low-income workers in about 35 cities are calling for a major walkout from their jobs on Thursday, Aug. 29.

The workers are seeking to increase their salaries to $15 an hour and the right to form unions. Store cashiers and restaurant workers are currently paid an average of $8.94 an hour.

The strikes began in November, when about 200 workers walked off their jobs at fast-food restaurants in New York City. Since then thousands of workers have held rallies across the US to complain about their working conditions.

“The top executives in these companies make huge salaries, and the corporations make record profits every year,” said Terrance Wise, 34, a father of three who earns $9.30 an hour at Burger King in Kansas City, Mo., where he has worked for eight years. He has a second job at Pizza Hut that pays him $7.47 an hour. “How about them cutting a little off the top? CEOs are taking home millions, and many workers are struggling.”

Experts and activists say that while fast-food corporations rake in $200 billion a year in revenue, many fast-food and low-paid retail workers are forced to rely on government aid programs.

“The McDonald’s wage – like any minimum wage – is basically a starvation wage,” says John Mason, a professor of politics at William Paterson University in New Jersey. “It effectively places you at 30% below the official poverty budget.”

Most of the jobs created in the US during the month of July were either part-time or low-paying jobs– or both, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.