July 23, 2015
Thom Carroll/PhillyVoice
Popeyes employee, Nasir White rallies to support a minimum wage raise for fast-food workers, Thursday, July 23, 2015.
Two dozen demonstrators demanded Pennsylvania increase its minimum wage while rallying inside a McDonald's restaurant Thursday, one day after New York moved to boost its minimum wage for fast-food workers to $15 per hour.
"I work harder than I'm paid," said Jabbria Hayden, a 21-year-old, married mother of two who works at a Popeye's in North Philadelphia. "You work so hard and come home like, 'I just made nothing.' It's starting to overwhelm me. I'm working so hard day-by-day, morning and night, and nothing is changing. It's just the same thing — $15 an hour is what we need."
The demonstrators, part of the "Fight for $15" movement, carried placards and balloons into the McDonald's at South Broad and Christian streets, where they called for higher wages and served cupcakes with "$15" written in green frosting.
"Hold the burgers, hold the fries — make our wages supersize," the demonstrators chanted. "We work, we sweat — for $15 checks."
Mark Tyler, senior pastor at Mother Bethel AME Church, briefly addressed the restaurant's patrons, saying fast food wages aren't much different than when he worked in fast food as a high school student nearly 30 years ago.
"We're asking people to raise families in 2015 by $7.25 an hour," Tyler said. "That's not only outrageous, it's immoral. It's wrong; it's downright evil."
The protesteers then paraded around the McDonalds drive-thru before walking one block north to a Popeyes, where they also rallied inside.
Increasing Pennsylvania's minimum wage to $15 per hour would more than double the current rate of $7.25 per hour. That rate, the federal minimum, has not been increased since 2009.
Opponents argue increased wages will force businesses to increase prices, eliminate employees or reduce hours. They fear some businesses might go under.
No state has moved to raise its minimum wage higher than $11 per hour. But several cities have increased their minimum wages to as much as $15 per hour, including Seattle, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
New York moved Wednesday to increase its minimum wage for fast-food workers to $15 per hour by the end of 2018 in New York City. Fast-food employees working in rest of the state will hit that mark in 2021.
The protesters rallied to celebrate this increase while also calling on Pennsylvania — or Philadelphia — to follow suit.
An analysis conducted by FiveThirteyEight.com found Philadelphia minimum wage workers earn just $6.08 per hour when adjusted for cost of living. The only cities where workers did worse than Philadelphia was San Jose and New York, which the analysis separated into Manhattan and Brooklyn.
"To me, it's not enough," said India Delgado, a 17-year-old minimum wage employee at a Popeyes in North Philly. "Not only do I take care of myself, but I look after my nephews. I look after family and friends — I always want to make sure that everybody is OK around me."
