NEW YORK – About two years after the first strike for a $15 minimum wage, fast food workers in 190 cities across the United States held protests yesterday, and even more types of service employees are joining in.

According to a report in Forbes, for the first time, airport workers — including baggage handlers, skycaps, wheelchair attendants and aircraft cleaners — plus retail workers at convenience and dollar stores, are adding their voices to the call for higher pay.

Additionally, home care workers, who began fighting for a $15-an-hour minimum wage in September, will continue their protest. Cities to see their first fast-food strikes include Jackson, Miss., Knoxville, Tenn., and Buffalo, NY.

Workers in industries beyond fast food have joined the fight because they face the same struggles, say labor representatives, who point out that these low-paying jobs have been some of the fastest-growing since the Great Recession because they cannot be easily outsourced.

Launched in November 2012, the campaign to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour and allow workers to unionize, sometimes called Strike Fast Food or the Fight for $15, has already experienced significant success. Cities such as Seattle and San Francisco have voted to phase in a $15/hour minimum wage, and Oakland, California, bumped its minimum wage up to $12.25 an hour. Portland, Maine, and Louisville are also considering increases, to around $10 an hour.

This week’s strikes come amid a rising tide of calls to raise the minimum wage, including from President Obama, who has called for an increase in the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour.