Next time you hear someone decry that those on public assistance should, “Go flip burgers at McDonalds,” remind them that the average fast food worker makes $11,000 a year. I know of nowhere in the United States where you can live on $11,000 a year.

From Today’s New York Times:

In Drive to Unionize, Fast-Food Workers Walk Off the Job

Fast-food workers at several restaurants in New York walked off the job on Thursday, firing the first salvo in what workplace experts say is the biggest effort to unionize fast-food workers ever undertaken in the United States.

The campaign — backed by community and civil rights groups, religious leaders and a labor union — has engaged 40 full-time organizers in recent months to enlist workers at McDonald’s, Wendy’s,Domino’s, Taco Bell and other fast-food restaurants across the city.

Leaders of the effort said that workers were walking off the job to protest what they said were low wages and retaliation against several workers who have backed the unionization campaign. (Read More)

Find out more about the campaign at FastFoodForward.org