Fast-food restaurant workers are staging a 24-hour strike in protest against low wages.
Walkouts were reported in New York, Chicago, Washington DC, and also Detroit, Michigan; Raleigh, North Carolina; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Organizers hoped workers in as many as 100 cities will participate in what is the latest in a series of such actions.
Unions want a $15-an-hour federal minimum wage. The current one, set in 2009, is $7.25 per hour.
President Barack Obama, who has backed a Senate measure to increase the minimum to $10.10, specifically mentioned fast-food workers “who work their tails off and are still living at or barely above poverty”, in an economic policy speech on Wednesday.
Barack Obama’s Democratic allies, who control the upper chamber of Congress, have said a vote on the matter could be held this month.
But even if it passes the Senate, it is not clear if it would be approved by the Republican-led House of Representatives.
Nearly 100 protestors gathered around a Wendy’s restaurant in Brooklyn, New York, at midday, carrying signs saying “stick together for $15/hr”.
Fast-food restaurant workers are staging a 24-hour strike in protest against low wages
In Detroit, about 50 demonstrators turned out for an early morning rally in front of a McDonald’s, including a handful of employees who walked off the job. However, the restaurant stayed open.
Another 40 demonstrators rallied at a Burger King in Atlanta.
The American fast-food industry has come under increasing scrutiny because part-time jobs, including retail and food positions, have made up most of the job growth since the recession.
It is not yet clear how many fast-food restaurants will be affected by Thursday’s industrial action.
The workers’ last nationwide strike, in August, was patchy, with some restaurants appearing to function normally while others were unable to do business.
The National Restaurant Association, an industry lobbying group, called the strikes a “campaign engineered by national labor groups”, claiming the vast majority of participants were in fact union protestors.
The association said firms already face “great uncertainty”.
“Calls to double the minimum wage only intensify the challenges faced by job creators.”
This week, a measure in the tiny airport town of SeaTac, Washington state, to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour passed by 77 votes.
As a result, some 6,300 workers at SeaTac’s airport, which primarily serves the region’s largest city, Seattle, will be paid the highest minimum wage in the nation.
[youtube Xe1X9W9Q8XE 650]
LAPD gunned down a man who was preparing to swing a metal pipe at them in the parking lot of a Carl’s Jr. fast food restaurant.
The entire shooting – 10 shots in all – was captured on video by two teens with a cell phone camera, who watched as the man walked out of the Carl’s Jr. about 9:30 a.m. Monday and apparently refused officers’ commands to surrender.
The dead man’s name is unknown and the names of the officers involved in the shooting have not been released.
The man appears to be casually walking out of the burger joint after smashing windows at the restaurant.
Officers approach and shoot him in the face with a Taser stun gun.
The man pulls the electric probes and wires out, takes a step then turns toward one of the officers and swings the metal bar.
That’s when one officer, holding a pistol in one hand and the leash of a police dog in the other, opens fire, shooting five times.
The man stumbles backwards and spins. He is still on his feet with his back to the shooter when a second officer fires five more times.
He was taken to the hospital, where he died, police say.
One officer, holding a pistol in one hand and the leash of a police dog in the other, opens fire, shooting five times
The cameramen, who react with shock at what they see, apparently set up in their car to film the man’s encounter with officers after they saw him causing a disturbance in the restaurant.
“Dude they shot him so many times!” one of the onlookers says.
Before the video surfaced, police claimed the man had swung the pipe at officers. However, the footage does not show he actually took a swing.
Rather, it appears the man gripped the pipe like a baseball bat and was preparing to hit out with it.
The target of the man’s fury, the officer with the Taser, appearing to be fumbling in his pocket for a cartridge to reload the stun gun.
He backed up quickly to avoid the man’s swing.
Police were originally called to the restaurant on reports that a man was trying to break in. When they arrived, they spotted several people running from the restaurant.
The video shows police hide beside the door so the man will not see him until he walks outside.
“Get your cameras out, they’re gonna drop him right here,” one of the teens behind the camera says as the man steps out the door.
After the shooting, one of the teens comments: “They could have done something f**** different than f****** shoot him, use a baton or something.”
The video quickly became viral after the teens uploaded it to YouTube. It had more than 2600,000 views since it was uploaded Monday.
[youtube bY5ioBvrYIg]
A disturbing video footage of a mouse running wild inside a bag of McDonald’s burger buns, has emerged.
Karruim Demaio, a former staff member at a Philadelphia branch of Mcdonald’s claims he saw the rodent while on the job and quickly pulled out his mobile phone to record the event.
The shocking video, allegedly shot in a back storage room on November 14, appears to show a mouse scurrying around a bag of hamburger buns making contact with dozens of buns.
Karruim Demaio says he wants to warn customers. He told Fox News: “That wasn’t the first time. That was about the sixth or seventh time. That’s what made me like, I got to get video of this.”
“I was going back there to get something else and I heard some rustling, so I turned around, and I look, I seen a mouse inside the bread. Not on top of the package, but inside of the package,” Karruim Demaio said.
The rodent is clearly visible, with its tail and small feet coming into focus as the mouse wriggles around the buns.
The shocking video, allegedly shot in a back storage room on November 14, appears to show a mouse scurrying around a bag of hamburger buns making contact with dozens of buns
Karruim Demaio, who claims to have worked in the fast food restaurant for more than a year, said the bread was contaminated with droppings on numerous occasions.
The former McDonald’s employee told Fox news: “I was working there from October of 2010 to January of this year. There hasn’t been a time when we couldn’t go in the back and see mouse droppings on the bread.”
Karruim Demaio’s boss allegedly ordered employees to brush off the droppings, and serve the bread to customers.
Another employee confirmed the account, Fox reported. And the second worker says he even saw the general manager brush off the droppings herself.
The manager has denied the accusations, Fox news reported.
Karruim Demaio said he’s worked at two other McDonald’s, and never saw this kind of hygiene issues.
Ken Youngblood, the owner/operator of the McDonalds franchise said: “After viewing the video, we are going to continue to investigate this claim to make certain we have all the facts. I want my customers to know that I am taking this matter seriously and will immediately address any issues that may exist. Therefore, if necessary, we will work with the appropriate authorities to get the facts.”
This particular McDonalds restaurant has a string of health violations dating back at least a year and a half.
According the Philadelphia Health Department, live flies were found in the food prep area; perishable food was not kept cool enough; and refrigeration units were not working correctly.
The report said: “The establishment is not in satisfactory compliance… And current management practices have allowed unacceptable public health or food safety conditions.”
[youtube WuZ-CaFtkVY]
