Minimum-wage protest will target 100 cities

NEW YORK – Fast-food workers in about 100 cities will walk off the job on Thursday, organizers say, which would mark the largest effort yet in a push for higher pay.

The actions are intended to build on a campaign that began about a year ago to call attention to the difficulties of living on the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, or about $15,000 a year for a full-time employee.

The protests are part of a movement by labor unions, Democrats and other worker advocacy groups to raise pay in low-wage sectors. Last month, President Obama said he would back a Senate measure to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour.

Protesters are calling for $15 an hour, although many see the figure as a rallying point rather than a near-term possibility.

It's not clear how large the turnout will be at any given location, or whether the walkouts will be enough to disrupt operations. Similar actions this summer had varying results, with some restaurants unable to serve customers and others seemingly unaffected.

The National Restaurant Association, an industry lobbying group, called the demonstrations a "campaign engineered by national labor groups," and said the vast majority of participants were union protesters rather than workers.

The group added that past demonstrations "have fallen well short of their purported numbers."

Organizers face an uphill battle in reshaping an industry that competes aggressively on low prices, a practice that has intensified as companies including McDonald's Corp., Burger King Worldwide Inc. and Yum Brands Inc., which owns KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, face growing competition and slow growth in the weak economy.