Tucson fast food workers at a protest in September 2014.Listen:
Fast-food workers, adjunct college faculty members and others in Tucson and across the country plan to strike Wednesday to to boost awareness about low wages.
The 11 a.m. rally at Campbell Avenue and Speedway Boulevard is part of a movement started in 2012. The group Fight for $15 has pressured fast-food companies and government to raise minimum wages.
“People can’t live on them," said Carolyn Trowbridge, a community organizer with Fight for $15 in Tucson. "They’re not all high school kids. They’re not all people who are just sort of hanging out. These are people who have families."
Arizona’s minimum wage rose 15 cents to $8.05 an hour in January. That’s nearly $17,000 a year for a full-time worker. A 2006 proposition mandates that Arizona raise its minimum wage every year based on the cost of living.
“People always say Arizona is cheaper than, say Seattle or New York or whatever, when it’s not entirely true. You have high rent and cost of food," Trowbridge said. “$15 an hour would allow a fast-food worker to provide housing and clothing and the occasional treat for their children.”
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