據美國《華盛頓郵報》報道，美國大約100個城市的快餐店工人醞釀在近日舉行大罷工，要求將最低工資提高至每小時15美元。

這場抗議始于2012年11月，當時，紐約市內30家快餐店的大約200名員工舉行了罷工。從那時起，罷工運動席卷全美，規模逐漸擴大，要求為在零售連鎖店、聯邦承包項目工作的低收入人群增加薪水。

據調查，快餐店所有者的代表們表示他們支付不起一般工人的工資，雖然這些工人的時薪幾乎不到9美元。餐飲業激烈的價格競爭，使得快餐連鎖店的利潤空間越來越小。

在威明頓市，一位43歲在漢堡王工作的父親本杰明·亨特表示：“我們現在的工資實在不夠用。” 他還表示，他每小時賺7.25美元，他的妻子是漢堡王的值班經理，每小時賺9美元。他們的家庭需要靠醫療補助和食物救濟券過活。亨特說：“你說誰能指望那點工資過活？”

Fast-food workers are poised to walk off the job in 100 cities Thursday, the latest action in a nationwide push for a $15-an-hour wage.

Organizers said Thursday’s one-day job action will be backed by protests in 100 other cities by social justice groups that support the fast-food workers’ demands.

“There is a huge amount of support and enthusiasm for this,” said Ezra Tempko of the Delaware chapter of the Americans for Democratic Action, which is supporting workers who plan to walk out in Wilmington, Del. “The only push back is that folks were worried about what repercussions there might be for workers.”

The protests began in November 2012, when about 200 fast-food workers walked away from their jobs at 30 restaurants in New York City. Since then, the walkouts have expanded across the country and joined with a broader movement to increase pay for low-wage employees of retail chains and federal contractors, among others.

“The workers realized that the only way they could gain something was by taking dramatic action,” said Kendall Fells, organizing director for Fast Food Forward, which helped organize the initial New York walkout.

Organizers say few workers have been punished for the walkouts and that some have even been rewarded with slightly higher pay and more regular shifts. Also, several states and localities have raised their minimum wages. (On Tuesday, the D.C. Council endorsed a $3.25 hike in the District’s minimum wage, to $11.50 an hour. The measure needs final approval from the council and the D.C. mayor.)

President Obama has endorsed raising the federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $10 an hour after previously calling for an increase to $9.

Still, the wage proposal has not progressed in Congress, despite strong support in public opinion polls, and widespread wage increases have proved elusive. Representatives of fast-food restaurant owners say that they cannot afford to pay rank-and-file workers — who earn a median wage of just under $9 an hour, according to one study — substantially more because of fierce price competition, which typically leaves franchisees operating on thin profit margins.

The walkouts, which are backed by organized labor including the Service Employees International Union, have attracted widespread attention while spotlighting the nation’s widening economic inequality and the rapid growth in low-wage jobs.

The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that seven of the 10 fastest-growing occupations over the next decade will be in jobs that traditionally have paid low wages, such as home health aides, store clerks, food preparation workers and laborers.

A study funded by Fast Food Forward and released this fall by researchers at the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Illinois found that taxpayers are spending nearly $7 billion a year to supplement the wages of fast-food workers through programs including food stamps, Medicaid and the earned-income tax credit.

“What we’re getting paid is not enough,” said Benjamin Hunter, 43, a married father of one who works at a Burger King in Wilmington.

He said he earns $7.25 an hour and that his wife makes $9 an hour working as a Burger King shift manager. The family receives Medicaid and food stamps. “Who can actually live on what they are paying?” he asked.

（來源：中國日報網愛新聞iNews 編輯：丹妮）