May Day! Fast Food Workers Call For $15 An Hour in Evanston

Photos by José G. Argüello

EVANSTON, IL - Dozens of fast food workers joined Northwestern University students, community activists and Illinois State Senator Daniel Biss in a rally in favor of raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour on Sunday.

The rally was also called in support of unions and was held in conjunction with International Workers’ Day, also known as “May Day.”

“The treatment I experience at work is inhumane,” said Carlota Gomez, an Evanston resident who has worked at McDonald’s for more than two decades. “I’ve been working at McDonald’s for more than 20 years and I deserve to be treated and paid fairly...This job is what I need to take care of my family. I just need McDonald’s to do what’s right. That’s why I’m demanding $15 and nothing less.”

Biss joined the protesters in a march that began at the city’s Fountain Square and wound up at a local Burger King, where the group continued to chant and hold signs that read “Fight for 15” and “$8.25 is not enough.”