Workers continue nationwide efforts to increase minimum wage

The fast-food labor movement is making its next big push with worker protests. Named “Fight for 15,” the protests are scheduled for April 15 in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles and are intended to urge for higher paychecks.

The goal with these protests is to turn a fight for a $15 hourly wage into a strong, national movement that includes all lower-wage workers in the U.S., and organizers expect about 10,000 people to join in on Tax Day, including university students who support the campaign.

To build support for the protest, many fast-food workers have traveled to Tulane, Vanderbilt and other colleges on “freedom rides” while pastors at churches in New York, Chicago and Detroit have been spreading the news at their congregations.

“When we started it was very hard to get people to sign up — they were scared, ‘I might lose my job,’ ” said Kwanza Brooks, who became a fast-food worker after funding for her job as a youth counselor was eliminated. “But this movement is really growing. People who didn’t know who we were, they now know who we are.”