More than 100 fast-food workers walked off the job in New York City to demand $15 an hour and the right to form a union without retaliation. This widely publicized one-day strike helped turn low-wage fast-food work into a national labor issue and is commonly treated as the start of the Fight for $15 campaign.
After the initial New York City action, organizers expanded one-day walkouts to other cities in 2013. This shift from a single-city protest to a multi-city pattern helped the campaign build momentum and recruit workers beyond fast food.
By late summer 2013, fast-food strikes were being reported in about 60 U.S. cities, described by supporters as the largest fast-food strike to that point. The larger scale signaled that the $15 demand could travel across regions and not stay local.
On May 15, 2014, fast-food workers and allies coordinated strikes and protests in many cities, including major actions in the United States. Moving to an international day of action linked local U.S. wage demands to global brands and global labor concerns.
Seattle’s City Council unanimously approved a $15 minimum wage ordinance with a phase-in schedule. The vote gave the Fight for $15 a major policy win in a large U.S. city and provided a model that other local governments could study and adapt.
Thousands of fast-food workers walked off the job in coordinated actions across 190 U.S. cities. The protests also included other low-wage workers, showing the campaign was growing beyond fast food into a broader low-wage workers’ movement.
Tens of thousands of workers demonstrated in more than 200 U.S. cities, with supporters describing it as a historic level of low-wage worker mobilization. The size and cross-industry participation increased pressure on elected officials and employers to respond.
The Los Angeles City Council voted to move the city toward a $15 minimum wage, with increases phased in over several years. As the largest U.S. city at the time to approve a $15 path, Los Angeles strengthened the idea that $15 could become a mainstream local standard.
A New York State wage board recommended raising pay for fast-food chain workers to $15 per hour, with different phase-in schedules for New York City and the rest of the state. This was an important example of the campaign influencing statewide, industry-specific wage policy rather than only city laws.
California enacted legislation to gradually raise the state minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2022 (with a later date for smaller employers). A large state adopting a $15 schedule marked a shift from local experiments toward broader statewide policy changes aligned with Fight for $15 goals.
New York’s enacted 2016–17 state budget included a multi-year schedule to raise the minimum wage toward $15, with different timelines by region and employer size. This helped convert a key campaign demand into statewide law affecting millions of workers.
Florida voters passed a constitutional amendment to raise the state minimum wage to $15 by 2026. The win was significant because it showed the $15 standard spreading through direct democracy in a large, politically diverse state, extending beyond the campaign’s early strongholds.
Fight for $15 — U.S. Low-Wage Worker Campaigns (2012–2020)