Fast-Food Workers Strike for 2nd Time in Week

The one-day fast-food strikes that hit McDonald's, Burger King, and the like on Monday are showing no signs of stopping. With more underway today in Milwaukee, the New York Times is comparing the national campaign—aimed at mobilizing workers from hundreds of restaurants—to Occupy Wall Street. Some strikers are demanding $15 an hour—more than twice the minimum wage, and a big jump from the median industry pay of $9.05. "We’d be able to pay our living costs," says a Detroit McDonald's employee earning $7.40. "On what I’m earning right now you have to choose between paying your rent and eating the next day."

Though the Service Employees International Union is pouring millions into the campaign, a rep for the National Restaurant Association says the strikes don't hold much weight: "It is an effort to demonize the entire industry in order to make some organizing and political points." Experts, too, tell UPI the movement doesn't look promising; the high turnover rate of workers makes unionization near impossible. Over at the New York Communities for Change, however, the outcome looks a bit different. "Things are going phenomenally. Workers all over the country are taking action in an industry where there had literally been no action or traction a year ago," says a rep. (More fast food stories.)