The Chicago workers are unaware of the cost for bullet proof glass to keep them safe.

Via Chicago Tribune

A few hundred fast food workers in Chicago on Wednesday voted to join a national one-day strike against their employers on May 15.

Strikes are planned for 150 cities, including New York City. The national strike was announced at an event there at midday on Wednesday. The Workers Organizing Committee of Chicago held a strike vote throughout the day, with the last votes cast at an 8 p.m. meeting.

Deivid Rojas, a spokesman for the group, said 100 percent of the workers who voted supported the strike.

The workers say they want $15 per hour wages and to form a union that would bargain over benefits and wages on their behalf. Fast food workers in Chicago make about $8.25 per hour, the state’s minimum wage. Many are part-time workers without benefits and don’t have a set schedule.

Most of them are employed by franchisees, which makes them a hard group to organize as the union would have to launch a campaign with every employer and gain the support of the majority of the workers at every location.

For now, the Workers Organizing Committee of Chicago, a group financially backed by the Service Employees International Union, is educating workers on labor laws and asking them to voluntarily join the group, which is registered as a union. The workers don’t pay dues but are asked to attend meetings and participate in events.

The group has been organizing one-day strikes for more than a year. Workers from at least 33 other cities outside the U.S. are also planning protests next week, the group said.