Fast food workers have held one-day strikes across the United States on several different occasions in the past few years, but on Thursday, they are taking their operation global. Their demand: a $15-an-hour wage. The strikes will take place in 150 cities across more than 30 countries as part of the 'Fight for Fifteen' movement.
Last July, the National Employment Law Project released a report that found the median hourly wage for front-line occupations in the accommodation and food services industry—chefs, cashiers and crew—was just $8.94, barely above the national minimum wage of $7.25. In April, Demos, a public policy organization, examined CEO-to-worker pay in the fast food industry. Between 2000 and 2012, the fast food CEO-to-worker compensation ratio skyrocketed upwards by 470 percent.
In fact, since 2009, the ratio has grown from 692-to-1 to 1,203-to-1. How much more valuable is the CEO of a fast food firm than a fry cook?