How to Get Low-Wage Workers Into the Middle Class

After 10 years as a McDonald’s cashier in Los Angeles, Albina Ardon earns just $9.05 an hour. For most of her time there, Ardon, 28, has been deeply frustrated because her pay has barely budged, forcing her and her husband—a cook at the same McDonald’s—to turn to Medicaid and food stamps for their two daughters, ages 6 and 8.

But some hope arrived two years ago in the form of an innovative and unorthodox campaign—the Fight for 15.  At first, Ardon didn’t know what to make of it, but she signed on, inspired by its ambitious goal of securing a $15 hourly wage for fast-food workers. And now, after nine one-day strikes by fast-food workers nationwide and some sophisticated community and political mobilization, the campaign has delivered a huge win for Ardon and others. Working closely with organized labor, the Fight for 15 persuaded the Los Angeles City Council to enact a $15 minimum wage, starting with an increase to $10 next year and climbing in steps to $15 in 2020. The campaign also persuaded a panel appointed by Andrew Cuomo to announce a $15 minimum wage for the 180,000 fast-food workers across the state of New York.

Ardon is one of 15 million workers in the U.S. earning less, which translates to $20,800 a year for a full-time worker. (Ardon, a part-time worker, earns only $12,000 a year.) For a family of three, the poverty line is $20,090, and for a family of four, it’s $24,250. “A few years ago, nobody was talking about raising our wages,” Ardon said. “Now all the talk is, ‘We need $15 and a union.’”