Struggling fast-food giant McDonald’s just announced it will raise pay for its U.S. restaurant workers by more than 10 percent.
Here’s the dets: Starting July 1, McDonald’s will pay at least $1 per hour more than the local legal minimum wage for employees at the 1,500 restaurants it owns and operates in the U.S.
Since many McDonald’s locations are owned by franchisees, the wage increase will apply to only 90,000 employees. The good news: Those employees will also be getting benefits like paid vacation.
Here’s a minimum wage map that Bloomberg just released (timely), to give you an idea of local legal minimum wage.
Fast-food workers across the country have been campaigning for a $15 hourly wage for years now. On the campaign’s first day of strikes two and a half years ago, 200 fast-food workers walked out in New York City.
While the wage hike is definitely significant, it’s far from a complete victory for McDonald’s workers. Wall Street Journal reports,
Although, the move could put pressure for similar hourly wage increases on McDonald’s franchisees.
This move from McDonald’s comes after Wal-Mart announced it would raised hourly pay for 500,000 workers to at least $10 next year. We’re hoping the fast-food-worker-pay-increase snowball effect keeps on snowballing.
[via WSJ]