The fast-food industry is notorious for employing millions of Americans at poverty wages.

When workers make more money, they respond by being more productive in their jobs and are less likely to leave, reducing turnover costs. This puts money in business' pockets, and workers also then have more money to spend in the local economy.

When families can afford the basics, they can reinvest in their communities, and higher wages means a broader consumer base for businesses.

Most fast-food workers can't easily join a union, because they don't work directly for their parent company, such as McDonald's or Subway. Instead, they work for individual franchise owners, ensuring that each individual fast-food outlet would have to organize and win union recognition separately. So there's not one central employer to bargain with, as in a traditional union campaign.

Fast food also has a uniquely difficult business structure for workers to achieve better wages and working conditions.

Today, the gap between productivity and compensation for the typical worker is larger than at any time since World War II.

Annual earnings in the fast-food industry are well below the income needed for self-sufficiency, and fast-food industry jobs are also much less likely than other jobs to provide health benefits.