Thousands of Workers Across the Country Strike for $15 Minimum Wage

Thousands of workers across the country are on strike today to push for a $15 minimum wage.

Workers across the country including large strikes and protests in Chicago and New York City are on strike Tuesday, fighting for a $15 minimum wage. People who work in service industries such as fast food, Uber drivers, child care workers, and airport staff are taking the day off from work to participate in the first Fight for $15 protest for a higher national minimum wage since Donald Trump was elected president.

The Fight for 15 is an international movement for fair minimum wage that started with fast food employees in New York City in 2012. Now, Fight for 15 and their local chapters organize strikes and protests where service industry employees walk out of work and protest for their right to a livable wage.  

Fight for 15 tweeted on Tuesday morning that protesters participating in the strike and protest were arrested by police on New York City.

The federal standard for minimum wage in the United States has been $7.25 since 2009, but many states have laws that mandate higher minimum wages than the federal minimum. Many cities and states across the country have recently signed laws that will increase the minimum wage to $15 over the course of the next few years (California will have a $15 minimum wage by 2022, for example).

Think Progress reports that in addition to protesting for a fairer minimum wage, workers are making demands for other social justice issues such as the right to unionize, a halt to the deportation of undocumented workers, and an end to police brutality against black people. 

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