Can you raise a family on $7.25 an hour?
That is exactly what millions of Americans working in low wage, fast food jobs are trying to do every year, often with no change of raises. As food, gas, and living costs rise, they only become more and more squeezed. Listen to what some of the strikers said themselves:
“I’m behind on paying my cable and Con Ed bills,” said Ms. Verges, whose Burger King is at 141st Street and Broadway (NYC). “I don’t think $15 an hour is asking too much. I do it all. I do three or four jobs. I take orders, I make the orders. I work the cash register. I say, ‘Have a good day.’ I do the inventory. I take out the trash. I get down and scrub the floor. I don’t think $7.25 is nearly enough.”
When explaining what a raise to $15 per hour would mean to her, Trish Kahle, a Whole Foods worker, stated simply, “I could have heat all winter.”
This is not what America stands for, and fast food workers are fed up. This year, they have been striking in cities like Seattle, Chicago, Washington DC, and New York, to demand that they get paid a living wage so that they can provide for their families.
So Far, CEOs aren't listening. With their million-dollar bonuses, fancy, gated homes, they don't care about the lives of the workers who make their company profitable.
The saddest part? It wouldn’t even cost that much. Estimates are that a living wage would increase prices at fast food restaurants by less than 25 cents.
Would you be willing to pay a quarter more for your burger knowing that its being made by a worker receiving a living wage, who can provide for his or her family, who can afford heat in the winter? I would, and I think most of you would too.
Sign this Care2 petition and call on CEOs to paid their workers an honest, living wage of $15 for the hard work they do!
Dear CEO,
I was shocked when I found out that your workers get paid only $7.25 an hour and often have to raise families on that. How can you expect them to survive on such a little amount, a minimum wage that hasn't been raised in years?
I would not mind paying a little more for my food if I know that your workers can afford essentials like heat, healthy food, and can care for their children. Please make a stand for workers everywhere by pledging that all your workers make a living wage of $15 an hour.
Thanks you,
