A year to the day that America heads to the polls in 2016 to elect a new president, minimum wage workers staged a nationwide protest demanding a $15-an-hour minimum wage.
The protesters are hoping to move their call for increasing the minimum wage to the top of the political agenda for candidates. Fast food workers, home-care workers, child-care workers and other underpaid employees joined the protests in 270 cities.
The movement, "Fight for 15," was launched by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) in late 2012. Since that time, activists have put pressure on politicians from the local to federal level to raise the minimum wage. The union has staged demonstrations in the past, and Tuesday's action was the latest large-scale push to amplify workers' voices.
Nearly 64 million Americans are paid less than $15 an hour. Organizers call the group "a voting bloc that can no longer be ignored."
Presidential candidates need to listen. We're working to make America better & we're out here struggling #FightFor15 pic.twitter.com/emMGxgvA2Y— Lupita (@agulup) November 10, 2015
For three Democratic candidates, that statement rang true. All three, Hillary Clinton, Martin O'Malley and Bernie Sanders weighed in on the demonstrations on their social media accounts.
While each voiced support for the striking workers, their positions vary. Clinton has said she supports a federal $12 an hour minimum wage while allowing individual communities to set higher minimum salaries as needed. Sanders and O'Malley both support a $15 an hour federal minimum.
Fast-food, home care, child care workers: Your advocacy is changing our country for the better. #Fightfor15 -H— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) November 10, 2015
I support the #FightFor15 and a $15 federal minimum wage. Let's get to $15 however and wherever we can! -O'M— Martin O'Malley (@MartinOMalley) November 10, 2015
I don’t believe it is a terribly radical idea to say that someone who works 40 hours a week should not be living in poverty. #FightFor15— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) November 10, 2015
On Tuesday, Sanders joined striking protesters on Capitol Hill, where he delivered a speech on the importance of a livable salary and union representation for minimum wage workers.
“Thank you all for coming out and standing up for justice, standing up for dignity, and saying loudly and clearly, that people in this country who work 40 hours a week deserve a living wage and workers in our city here and all over this country deserve the right to organize a union,” Sanders told the protesters gathered in Washington D.C.
What workers all over the United States are doing is having a profound impact. This is your movement. #FightFor15https://t.co/seWKIMJQbZ— SandersBot (@sanders_bot) November 10, 2015
Sanders credited the activists for triggering change, particularly in Los Angeles where the city government has vowed to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2020. Sanders urged the crowd to keep the pressure on national lawmakers.
"What we are saying is enough is enough," said Sanders to cheers from the crowd. "You are having a profound impact...Now we've got to finish the job, 15 bucks and a union!"
Proud to join striking workers today fighting for dignity and a living wage. #FightFor15 pic.twitter.com/WIsjCAaNmg— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) November 10, 2015
Early Tuesday morning, protests were already sweeping the country, with demonstrations from New York to Las Vegas.
In Milwaukee, protesters are planning strikes and city hall protests throughout the day, but the "Fight for $15" demonstrators also plan to march on the Republican presidential debate at the downtown Milwaukee Theatre.
Republican candidate Donald Trump has repeatedly asserted that having a low minimum wage is "not a bad thing for the country," while Ben Carson has said he is in favor of raising the minimum wage but not at the scale the workers are looking for. Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio have both said they oppose a federal minimum wage, while Carly Fiorina went so far as calling the federal government’s role in setting a minimum wage "unconstitutional."
The protesters say the candidates' positions on the issue will almost certainly sway their votes. Protesters in Milwaukee hope the Republicans will weigh in during Tuesday night's debate.
Payton Smith, a single mother who works at Denny's making $2.33 per hour plus tips, told Mashable in a phone interview that it's important to show political candidates that improving conditions for minimum wage workers is vital for the campaign ahead.
"They need to see it," said Smith, who has been protesting in Milwaukee since early Tuesday morning. "They hear about it, but they need to see the manpower behind it. They need to see that these are either votes against them or for them."
"When they see the dedication and passion they have, they will see we are not playing, this is something we really believe in," Smith added.
For now, Smith said that Democratic candidates are much more in line with her concerns as a voter. She said three key issues for her are supporting the $15 dollar an hour minimum wage, supporting the 'Black Lives Matter' movement and civil rights issues, and a comprehensive immigration reform program.
"I need them to focus on what's important to the people, not just the politics," Smith said.