--- title: Fast Food Workers Back On Strike | TIME description: Fast food workers are asking for wages as high as $15 per hour. While statistics suggest big chains are posting profits, can companies absorb the kind of wage increases workers are demanding? canonical: https://time.com/video/D49p3F3a/ og:title: Fast Food Workers Back On Strike og:description: Fast food workers are asking for wages as high as $15 per hour. While statistics suggest big chains are posting profits, can companies absorb the kind of wage increases workers are demanding? og:url: https://time.com/video/D49p3F3a/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/D49p3F3a/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Fast Food Workers Back On Strike twitter:description: Fast food workers are asking for wages as high as $15 per hour. While statistics suggest big chains are posting profits, can companies absorb the kind of wage increases workers are demanding? twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/D49p3F3a/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Fast Food Workers Back On Strike > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Subscription: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME is a general-interest news organization founded in 1923, reporting on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world. A TIME subscription provides full access to that journalism in print and digital, from $20 a year, and can be cancelled at any time. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Fast Food Workers Back On Strike [Watch (HLS stream): Fast Food Workers Back On Strike](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/D49p3F3a.m3u8) (2:22)  _Published 2013-12-05. Fast food workers are asking for wages as high as $15 per hour. While statistics suggest big chains are posting profits, can companies absorb the kind of wage increases workers are demanding?_ --- Jul 27, 2023 3:59 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Fast-Food Workers Nationwide Strike For $15 Minimum Wage](/video/VbRYzcap/) ### Fast-Food Workers Nationwide Strike For $15 Minimum Wage [Fast-Food Workers To Turn To Civil Disobedience In Wages Fight](/video/XDRoQBKX/) ### Fast-Food Workers To Turn To Civil Disobedience In Wages Fight [Fast Food Workers To Strike Again](/video/AliaB4Gj/) ### Fast Food Workers To Strike Again --- ## Transcript >> Fast food workers are back on strike with plans to demonstrate in about 100 cities. >> They're tired of living paycheck to paycheck, and they know they deserve better. >> What they're calling a living wage of $ 15 an hour. So, let's take a look at the numbers. Can fast food chains afford to pay more? The National Restaurant Association and Organization of Fast Food Business Owners says no; not unless customers wanna see the cost passed on to them in the form of higher menu prices. They industry warns the result for workers will be fewer jobs to go around. Those claims are hard to verify. At least for McDonalds, quarterly profits appear to be up. The chain reported a $ 1. 52 billion profit last quarter; something the fast food workers point out in justifying their actions, but some have noted many of the chain's employees work for private franchises, not the parent company. Franchise owners financial data isn't public. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average hourly wage of a fast food worker is about $ 9, which is $ 18, 720 a year. For a family of three, that's $ 1, 000 below the federal poverty line. The federal minimum wage, of course, is $ 7. 25. Then again, also from the National Restaurant Association, only five percent of fast food workers make as low as minimum wage, and the group says most of those workers are under 25 years old. Financial analytics from Sagework estimates privately held fast food companies had a 4. 6 percent profit margin and a 12. 1 percent increase in revenues over the previous year. There was TIME's Christopher Matthews has previously pointed out that a 4. 6 percent profit margin might not be big enough to absorb the kind of increase striking workers are demanding. Then again, still there might be room to negotiate. Analysis from Mother Jones suggests minimum wage growth hasn't capped pace with the nation's highest incomes, which have grown more than 270 percent since 1960. The real value of minimum wage, on the other hand, has gone up just seven percent in the same amount of time. Author and activist Michael Pollan, who wrote The Omnivore's Dilemma, endorsed the striking workers at moveon. org, saying " If we are ever to produce food sustainably and justly, we will first have to pay people a living wage so that they can afford to buy it ", and president Obama has voiced public support for an increase in the federal minimum wage, but he need republican support in congress for that. And last of course, as progressives have urged, he's willing to sign an executive order to do it. That's much less likely. For TIME, I'm Lauren Gores. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Fast Food Workers Back On Strike","description":"Fast food workers are asking for wages as high as $15 per hour. 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