WASHINGTON – The Hill reports that the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the group behind the push for a $15 minimum wage, “is preparing for its biggest round of fast-food protests yet.”

Today, tens of thousands of low-wage workers will walk off their jobs and protest as part of the “Fight for $15,” which will sweep through New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Miami, St. Louis and hundreds of other cities. The news source notes that workers will target McDonald’s, even though many of the protesters work in home care or at schools, hospitals and airports.

"The ‘Fight for $15’ keeps winning, and the more it wins, the more SEIU members and all working people win," an SEIU spokesman told The Hill.

Meanwhile, business groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, are questioning the effectiveness of the protests, since some local SEIU branches have settled for contracts below $10 an hour.

“It’s ironic to see SEIU-sponsored activists calling for $15 an hour and organizing rights when the SEIU fails to negotiate that wage in some of its own contracts,” Glenn Spencer, vice president of the U.S. Chamber’s Workforce Freedom Initiative, told the news source, adding that SEIU Locals 503 and 1199 negotiated wages as low as $9.10, while Local 775 negotiated a wage of $9.75 for its members.

“No more than a handful of protestors appear in most of the targeted locations, and few, if any, workers actually walk out on strike,” Spencer added.

For more on labor and wage issues, read “Labor Pains” in the current issue of NACS Magazine.