Union organizers in Tampa and in over 100 cities across the country are preparing for another strike by fast-food workers this Thursday, demanding that their minimum wage be raised to $15 an hour.
It's the latest in a series of increasingly heated confrontations between the fast-food giants and their workers, who complain that they simply can't make ends meet with the wages they're being compensated for at places like McDonald's, Wendy’s, Burger King and Taco Bell.
The rallies are being coordinated locally by the West Central Florida Federation of Labor, and nationally by the groups Fast Food Forward and Fight for 15.
"I'm trying to get the message out that women like me with kids, who's working hard, has a job and trying to survive for their families, that it's not fair for us to work for big time companies who make enough to pay us a living wage to survive [but don't]," says Reighnesia Nix, 25, who works for a Taco Bell in Tampa and has to support three children at home.
Nix makes $8.20 an hour and works between 10-25 hours a week. She said it's not nearly enough to pay all of her bills at the end of the month. "We don't deserve this. We deserve to get paid a living wage, and they should pay us. Because without us, they can't run their businesses," Nix adds.
Thursday's strikes come just after the National Labor Relations Board general counsel defined McDonald's as a joint employer of the restaurants run by its franchisees. The decision came after the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) brought several cases against the company, alleging it acted as an employer. Since the fall of 2012, McDonald's and other fast-food workers have been joining together and going on strike, calling for $15 and the right to form a union without retaliation.
The ruling, which is being heavily challenged, could bring McDonald’s to the negotiation table over wages and benefits. The company has insisted, and continues to insist, that its franchisees, not the corporation, are responsible for wages.
Thursday's protests in the Tampa Bay are scheduled at two different McDonald's locations: one at 6 a.m at 8214 N. Florida Avenue in Tampa, the other at 12 noon in Temple Terrace, at 11707 N. 56th St.
"We started off small and we have more people who want to stand up for what's right," says Nix, who participated in earlier fast-food worker demonstrations. "We're getting our point across. We're not giving up. I'm doing whatever it takes."
