Kansas City fast food workers are standing up and walking out.
Strikes are set this week in seven large cities, including Kansas City.
They want to double their pay to $15 an hour, but not everyone is convinced these protests will see those types of gains.
Morris Cornley is a 57-year-old delivery driver for an area Jimmy John’s. Making $7.35 an hour, he said, "I'm barely making ends meet. I'm behind on my bills most of the time."
Cornley was a truck driver for many years until the company he worked for went under. When asked why he doesn’t look for another job, he said, “I have looked for other jobs, but I like this job.”
Morris is one of 26,000 fast-food workers in the metropolitan area.
This week, some of those workers are standing up for what they want. They’re workers at restaurants like McDonald’s, Burger King, and KFC.
They'll be joining protests in other cities including New York, Chicago and Detroit.
Gina Chiala, a spokesperson for the Stand Up KC group and an organizer of this week's action, said, "If these workers are able to make a living wage, that means they will be able to go to our local businesses. They're going to be able to afford the kind of food they make every day. And by them having money in their pockets to spend at local businesses, the entire economy should be able to recover.”
But economists like Chris Butler say this could just add to the unemployment rate.
"Over time, the employer just hires fewer and fewer employees because they only have so much to spend on labor," Butler said. "So if each person requires more per hour, they're only going to have fewer people making that higher wage.”
This group Stand Up KC has planned a rally for Tuesday afternoon at Gillham Park.
As for the strike, the spokeswoman wouldn't specify which restaurants or when.
