NC fast-food workers rally for wage increase to $15 hourly

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Cooks and cashiers at Charlotte fast-food restaurants plan to press for a $15 hourly wage as New York considers becoming the first state in the country to require that standard.

The lunchtime rally Monday outside a McDonald’s restaurant in Charlotte is meant to keep the momentum building for a new nationwide wage rate.

Organizers say the Charlotte workers will read aloud testimony that workers are giving to a New York state wage board describing their struggle to survive on fast-food pay. Rallies calling on the New York board to recommend $15 are planned from Oakland to Pittsburgh.

The panel set up by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo last week heard from fast-food employees often getting the minimum wage of $8.75. Employers groups decried the proposal as a job-killer.

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