NEW YORK – Worker strikes at QSRs are expected to gain momentum today, with protests at the country’s biggest chains spreading to the South and West coast, Time.com reports.

The strike is being timed just before Labor Day weekend, with workers demanding the right to unionize and earn at least $15 an hour in pay. Organizers predicted today’s strikes could reach as many as 35 cities.

“These companies that own these fast food restaurants, they make way too much money off the backs of the employees,” said Dearius Merritt, a 24-year-old worker at Church’s Chicken in Memphis who earns $13 an hour and plans to take part in his first strike Thursday. “I’m in the store every day with these workers that make $7.25…If I’m 30 years old and this is what I have to do to survive, then I deserve a living wage off of it.”

The QSR worker backlash began last November in New York, when 200 workers went on strike in a one-day protest. Earlier this summer, the movement had expanded to thousands of workers in seven cities. The protests are receiving financial backing from the Service Employees International Union.

“It’s absolutely going to continue to grow,” said Steven Ashby, a professor at the University of Illinois School of Labor and Employment Relations. “I see no signs from all the people I’ve talked with that it’s going to falter. At this point it hasn’t reached its peak yet. The energy of the workers, their passion, their commitment, is very, very high. They basically feel like, ‘We’ve got nothing to lose.’”

Experts are skeptical that QSRs will offer a $15 per hour base wage. However, they believe less dramatic results, like smaller raises from individual franchises and perhaps a modest increase to the minimum wage, might be attainable. In the meantime, the movement shows no signs of receding.

“This doesn’t end at the strike,” said Caroline Durocher, a Subway employee in Seattle who plans to walk out on Thursday. “We’re going to keep going. We’re not going to shut up.”