Thousands of workers around the country, in cities such as Boston, New York, and Chicago, have walked off their jobs to demand a living wage in the largest fast food worker strike

in history.

They want the industry to raise the starting wage to $15 per hour – more than double the current pay of $7.25 – as well as gaining the right to unionize. The timing of the protests is especially appropriate, as just last week marked the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

One of the demands of Americans then was to raise the minimum wage to $2 per hour, which today would be approximately $13.39. These strikes show that the same issues that caused those civil rights activists to march in 1963, such as a desire for opportunity and economic freedom, have persisted to this day.

Workers question why they have not seen the financial gains in their pay. Profits have soared to $200 billion per year in the fast food industry. As it is, working full time at a restaurant is not enough to support workers financially. McDonald’s recently released a sample budget for their employees. In it, they require having a second job and not paying for heat in order to make ends meet.

The budget is a testament to the impossibility of living with dignity and independence even while working hard for 40 hours per week. These workers have been neglected for far too long. According to The New York Times, from 1979 to 2012, in spite of worker productivity increasing almost 75 percent, typical wages have increased just 5 percent. The situation is even worse for low-wage workers like those at fast food restaurants as wage gains either did not change or declined.

Unfortunately, these strikes seem unlikely to cause change for a variety of reasons. The fast food industry will not be persuaded to raise workers’ pay when its stream of revenue is unaffected. It is not in their interests to pay their employees more when their supply of willing workers is plentiful. The state of the economy means that the restaurants will have little trouble finding workers to fill their jobs.

Some activists have called for Congress to look at raising the minimum wage but an increase was voted down last March and does not look to be on the agenda for the next session. On their own, fast food workers have little bargaining power to force their employers to listen to their demands.

This is why they need the support of consumers to accomplish their goals. Thus far, consumers have displayed no desire to change their eating habits to show solidarity with the workers. For the fast food worker strikes to succeed, it will require consumers to make a conscious decision to put their money where their mouth is and demand change for the workers.