Triangle fast-food workers to protest wages
Some employees of Raleigh and Durham fast-food restaurants are planning to walk off the job Thursday as part of a 100-city strike aimed at securing better pay.
Thousands of workers are expected to stage walkouts across the country, part of a push that began a year ago to get chains like McDonald's, Taco Bell and Wendy's to pay workers higher wages. Workers want the right to unionize and secure a pay raise to about $15 per hour.
A $15 hourly wage, almost double the $8.56/hour average for North Carolina fast-food workers, would equal about $31,000 a year for full-time employees. It's more than double the federal minimum wage, which many fast food workers make, of $7.25 an hour, or $15,000 a year.
Workers in Raleigh gathered in the 6300 block of Capital Boulevard at about 6 a.m. In Durham, the protest in the 2100 block of Avondale Drive was scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Workers in Charlotte, Greensboro and several other North Carolina cities were also expected to strike.
At a similar rally in August, 39-year-old Willieta Dukes, who works at Burger King, said she enjoys serving people.
"Why should I have to do something else when they cut back on our hours? They tell us we're good," she said. "Why can't they pay us what we are worth?"
