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"Workers in chain restaurants like McDonald&amp;#039;s, KFC and Taco Bell are going on strike today in 100 cities across America and protesting in 100 more. Their demands: an increase in pay to $15 an hour and the right to form unions without retribution from their employers.  &amp;#039;&amp;#039;We can&amp;#039;t survive on $7.25!&amp;#039;&amp;#039; chanted roughly 100 protestors outside a New York City McDonald&amp;#039;s this morning. &amp;quot;I can&amp;#039;t take care of my household; I can&amp;#039;t even take care of myself,&amp;quot; said Mary Coleman, who works at a Milwaukee Popeye&amp;#039;s. Fast-food workers receive a median pay of $8.69 hourly, according to the U.C. Berkeley Labor Center. Many fast-food companies also don&amp;#039;t provide benefits. To get by, many employees depend on public assistance like Medicaid and food stamps. &amp;quot;The industry had better start to take this seriously, because this isn&amp;#039;t going to blow over,&amp;quot; said Mary Kay Henry, the president of the Service Employees International Union. It isn&amp;#039;t certain whether the demonstrations will slow down or halt service. McDonald&amp;#039;s said in a statement that business will go on as usual. &amp;quot;Our restaurants remain open today\u2014and every day\u2014thanks to our dedicated employees serving our customers,&amp;quot; they wrote. To find out if there is a protest in your area, enter your zip code here. Do you think that fast-food workers should get their demands met? Let us know in the comments. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/life/news/a48153/fast-food-workers-strike-nationwide/>