May 24, 2013
By Neal Tepel
New York, NY – Wendy’s shareholders were greeted at the company’s annual conference Thursday May 23, 2013 by a hundred workers and supporters calling for decent wages to support their families, and the right to form a union without interference. The workers’ campaign in the Fast Food industry continues to expand.
“Certainly Wendy’s can afford to pay these men and women more than $7.25 an hour,” said Jonathan Westin, Campaign Director of Fast Food Forward. “All they’re asking for is their small piece of the American Dream–the chance to raise their families at a living wage without having to rely on public assistance, and maybe even having a little something extra to go to the movies.”
The protest comes on the heels of an explosive report in last week's New York Times about bounced checks, late payments, and forced hours off the clock plaguing workers in NYC's fast food industry, at restaurants including Wendy’s– and an announcement from NYS Attorney General Eric Schneiderman that his office is investigating the crime wave.
After coming together in November and April in unprecedented, citywide strikes, the workers are continuing to fight for $15 / hour and the right to form a union so they can support their families, and put money back into the economy, instead of relying on taxpayers to shoulder the burden for the fast food industry’s low-wages.
