Fast Food Workers Protest Minimum Wage, 13 Arrested

Workers from various fast food restaurants across Connecticut gathered in Hartford on Thursday to protest for a $15 minimum wage, Eyewitness News reports.

The demonstrators, who left their jobs and rallied at the McDonald’s on Washington Street at 11:30 a.m., were from Hartford, New Haven and Providence, R.I. The group included employees from McDonald’s, Dunkin’ Donuts, Burger King, Wendy’s and KFC.

Thirteen of the demonstrators were arrested for disorderly conduct for blocking the road and released with a promise to appear in court on Sept. 12 in Hartford.

The protest pushed for the right to join unions without dealing with employers in addition to minimum wage increases. Officials with the Connecticut Working Families party reportedly said “the movement is challenging fast-food companies’ outdated notion that their workers are teenagers looking for pocket change.”

Connecticut’s minimum wage will be raised to the highest in the county at $10.10 per hour by 2017, due to a bill recently signed into law by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. The state’s current minimum wage is $8.70 an hour, while the federal is $7.25.

Seattle fast food workers now make $15 an hour after a similar protest in November 2012, according to NBC Connecticut.

McDonald’s said in a statement that most of its restaurants are independently owned and operate under local minimum wage laws.

“At McDonald’s we respect everyone’s rights to peacefully protest,” the fast food restaurant said, according to Eyewitness News. “We believe that any minimum wage increase should be implemented over time so that the impact on owners of small and medium-sized businesses – like the ones who own and operate the majority of our restaurants – is manageable.”

The demonstration is the latest in a string across the country of workers walking away from their jobs to protest, a campaign that began in New York in 2012.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.