With Fast Food Strikes, Some See Momentum For Minimum Wage Hike

Jillian Jorgensen
Eyes nationwide will be on fast food workers tomorrow as they strike in search of a $15-an-hour wage. But in the state’s capital, many are hoping that ongoing movement will translate into the city’s ability to set its own higher minimum wage — even if it’s not as much as $15 an hour.

“Momentum is building in New York and around the country. I think the fast food workers are really are a powerful example of the unconscionable low wages that many very hard-working New Yorkers are subject to,” Assemblyman Richard Gottfried told the Observer. “And people are coming to understand that this is not about teenagers getting jobs after school — these are adults who are in many cases supporting or trying to support families, and the employers are not the mom-and-pop candy stores, these are multi-billion dollar international corporations.”

In interviews with the Observer, several Albany lawmakers cited the fast food workers as a visible example to New Yorkers of why a minimum wage increase matters — and why it matters even more so in New York City, with a higher cost of living than elsewhere in the state.



Read more at http://observer.com/2014/09/with-fast-food-strikes-some-see-momentum-for-minimum-wage-hike/#ixzz3CMrm164a