Meanwhile, across the pond...
US fast-food workers in vanguard of growing protests at 'starvation' wages
"...McDonald's, along with dozens of profitable Wall Street-listed fast food and retail chains, is being rocked by unprecedented workforce- and consumer-led protests over wages and conditions.
Since last year, when Walmart faced the first co-ordinated strikes in its history over pay and conditions, similar protests have been spreading through America's low-wage workforce. Earlier this month thousands of fast food workers in cities including New York, Chicago and Detroit took to the streets, many wearing red "Fight for 15" T-shirts - a reference to the popular call for a $15 (£9.70) hourly wage, almost double the current minimum. With more protests planned for the autumn, America's most marginalised, vulnerable and exploited workforce is on the march.
"We're frustrated and we're angry," says Alex Mack, 33, a worker at Wendy's in Chicago. "I make $8.25 an hour and it's impossible to live on. I'm a father, a husband. I'm always robbing Peter to pay Paul, shorting one bill to pay another." But Mack is optimistic that the strike action will be successful. "If we stick together, it's not impossible," he says.
The one-day protests struck not only McDonald's, Wendy's and KFC but also more expensive retail stores such as Nike, Macy's and Victoria's Secret. Last month McDonald's made headlines after it published a guide budget for employees living on the minimum wage - a gesture that backfired after the firm's own calculations showed survival on what it paid was only possible with a second job or if you live without a food budget or heating..."
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/10/us-fast-food-protests-wages
P.S.
Maybe with the next round of QE, all those with less than £1,000 in the bank should get £1,000 in the bank?