INSTITUTE INDEX: Momentum builds in the Fight for $15
Tens of thousands of people turned out for this week's nationwide Fight for $15 rallies, including hundreds at this demonstration in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Image is a still from a video by Eric Preston.)
Number of workers nationwide who took part in this week's Fight for $15 demonstrations calling for a pay hike for low-wage workers: 60,000
Number of U.S. cities where Fight for $15 rallies were held: 236
Number of demonstrators that turned out this week at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina -- the birthplace of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee -- for a Fight for $15 rally organized by Raise Up, an organization based in the Southeast that's advocating for a higher minimum wage and union rights: hundreds
Hourly wage Robin Walker of Raleigh makes as a cashier for fast-food chains: $7.25
Year that the Fight for $15 movement, spearheaded by the Service Employees International Union, kicked off: 2012
Year that the movement expanded beyond fast-food workers to include other service workers such as home care workers, airport workers and dollar-store workers: 2014
Year that the movement further expanded to include child care providers, adjunct professors and Walmart employees: 2015
Date that Walmart, after receiving negative press about its workers' wages, announced a pay increase: 2/19/2015
Hourly rate to which Walmart announced in February it would incrementally raise workers' base pay: $10
Number of Walmart workers expected to receive a raise: 500,000
Date that McDonald's announced a raise of $1 over state minimums for employees at company-owned restaurants in the U.S.: 4/1/2015
Percent of McDonald's 14,000 restaurants in the U.S., most of which are franchises, that would be affected by the pay increase: 10
Current annual cost to U.S. taxpayers to subsidize poverty-level wages through public support for working families: $152.8 billion
Percent of federal public aid that goes to working families in Texas, which has the highest share in the country: 67
Number of states that increased the minimum wage through legislation or ballot measures in 2014: 15
Number of workers that would receive a raise if the federal minimum wage were increased to $10.10, as the White House has called for: 27 million
(Click on figure to go to source.)
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Allie Yee
Allie is a research fellow at the Institute for Southern Studies and is currently studying at the Yale School of Management. Her research focuses on demographic change, immigration, voting and civic engagement.