(5 Dec 2013)
AROUND THE COUNTRY, THE PUSH FOR HIGHER WAGES STARTED BEFORE DAWN...
(NAT SOUND)
"We can't survive, on 7.25."
THEY MARCHED IN DETROIT ...
(UPSOUND: Protester)
"Hold the pickles. Hold the fries. Make our wages super-size."
IN NEW YORK.
(UPSOUND)
"This is what democracy looks like ..."
(SOT: Jenny Paris, Popeye's employee)
"It has become really difficult, I have had to get a second job to make my ends meet, and still, no ends are still meeting."
AND AT NOON IN THE NATION'S CAPITOL, ACTIVISTS MADE THEIR POINT AT THE SMITHSONIAN AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM'S MCDONALD'S ...
(SOT: Unidentified activist)
"Holidays are coming, but the workers at McDonald's located at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum aren't thinking about the holidays, they're thinking about survival."
FAST-FOOD WORKERS AND LABOR GROUPS MARCHING IN HUNDREDS OF CITIES.
IT'S THE LARGEST SHOWING YET IN A PUSH FOR HIGHER WAGES THAT BEGAN A YEAR AGO.
AND THAT PUSH HAS SOME HIGH POWERED SUPPORT ....
(SOT: Barack Obama, U.S. President)
"And, we know that there are airport workers, and fast food workers, and nurse assistants and retail sales people who work their tails off and are still living at or barely above poverty."
ADVOCACY GROUPS ARE HOPING TO BUILD PUBLIC SUPPORT TO RAISE THE FEDERAL MINIMUM WAGE OF $7.25, OR ABOUT $15,000 A YEAR FOR FULL-TIME WORK.
WHILE SOME CUSTOMERS MAY BE WILLING TO PAY A LITTLE MORE ...
(SOT: Channon Wetstone, customer from New York)
"I would say maybe, 50, 75 cents more ..."
OTHERS, NOT SO.
(SOT: Jeff Stillinger, 46, customer from Atlanta)
"I'd like to see a little more natural response to this in terms."
THE DRIVE TO INCREASE WAGES FACES AN UPHILL BATTLE FROM RESTAURANT OWNERS.
(SOT: Scott DeFife, National Restaurant Association)
"A 15 dollar an hour minimum wage, as a starting wage in the restaurant industry is just really not realistic in today's economy. For most restaurant operators it would significantly increase cost, drive prices up and likely create less jobs. "
THERE'VE BEEN SOME WAGE INCREASES TO DATE ... THREE STATES HAVE HIKED THEIR MINIMUM RATES, INDEPENDENT OF ANY FEDERAL ACTION.
TRACY BROWN/ASSOCIATED PRESS
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