Minimum wage protests return to Las Vegas

By Kyle Roerink

Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2015 | 10:29 a.m.

Calling on politicians to raise the minimum wage, grassroots activists and fast-food workers will rally today in Las Vegas and across the country.

Known as the Fight for $15, the effort is part of a multi-year push to hike minimum wages at the state and federal level. In the past two years, Las Vegas fast-food employees have walked out of their jobs to rally in solidarity with activists in other states.

The effort was been a factor for raising wages in cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Seattle. But in Nevada the efforts haven’t increased the state’s minimum wage from $8.25 and most employees don’t receive health insurance.

National Employment Law Project, an advocacy group for low-wage workers, report that Nearly half of Nevada’s workers — fast food and other industries — make less than $15 per hour.

Activists rallied at a McDonald's on the Las Vegas Strip this morning. In the afternoon they plan to march to the Las Vegas City Hall. Thousands of activists in the Midwest, East Coast and South closed restaurants and marched this morning. Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders — both advocates for raising the minimum wage at the federal level — praised the movement on social media.

Bernie Sanders held a rally on Capitol Hill, calling the current federal minimum wage “a starvation wage.”

“What you are doing, and workers around the country are doing, you’re having a profound impact,” Sanders told strikers, according to MSNBC. “You should be very proud of what you have accomplished and now we have to finish the job – $15 bucks and a union.”

Clinton used the hashtag #Fightfor15 on her personal account. She is calling for a minimum wage hike to $12, saying that $15 wouldn’t be necessary in areas with lower costs of living.