The Uneven Geography of America's Fast Food Jobs

After months of mounting frustration, fast food workers in New York walked off the job Monday morning, beginning a week-long, seven-city effort that amounts to the largest strike in the industry's history. The strikers demands were clear: "We can't survive on $7.25," read the online petition started by the New York-based group Fast Food Forward. News coverage of the strike is filled with stories of kitchens without air conditioning and workers too cash-strapped to afford even public transportation to get from home to their jobs and back again. Striking workers in New York and six other cities are demanding higher wages, better working conditions, and the right to form a union without retaliation from employers, which include prominent national chains such as McDonald's, Taco Bell, and Popeye's.

This latest round of labor strife could mark a turning point in America's low-wage service economy.