Activists who seek a significant hike in the minimum wage have proven steadfast in their efforts to draw attention to the issue, holding events outside fast food franchises and the like nearly week in recent months.
On Monday, they protested outside a busy McDonald's store on Kennedy Boulevard in Tampa.
The occasion?
To show solidarity with a parallel movement in New York State, which comes to a head Monday with the convening of the state's fast food wage board, a panel assembled by Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo that aims to examine whether the state's current $8.75 minimum wage (slated to go up to $9 an hour later this year) is "sufficient to provide for the life and health of those workers."
"It's like a domino effect," said Dasman Gunter, 20, who works at a South St. Pete Burger King franchise. "Once they get it, it's going to [spread] all over, even in Florida. It's happening in California, in St. Louis and Kansas City. It's going all over, even overseas."
Tampa's activists say they want to see the minimum wage get hiked up to $15 an hour.
This article appears in Jun 18-24, 2015.