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Protests for $15-an-hour wages set to expand Wednesday

Boston University student Patrick Johnson, center, holds a sign as he joins with other protesters, including students, fast-food restaurant employees and other workers, as they march Tuesday, April 14, 2015, in Boston. Organizers of the event are calling for the nation's lowest paid workers to earn at least $15 per hour. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Boston University student Patrick Johnson, center, holds a sign as he joins with other protesters, including students, fast-food restaurant employees and other workers, as they march Tuesday, April 14, 2015, in Boston. Organizers of the event are calling for the nation's lowest paid workers to earn at least $15 per hour. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) Boston University student Patrick Johnson, center, holds a sign as he joins with other protesters, including students, fast-food restaurant employees and other workers, as they march Tuesday, April 14, 2015, in Boston. Organizers of the event are calling for the nation's lowest paid workers to earn at least $15 per hour. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

By Associated Press 3 min read

NEW YORK (AP) – The fight to redefine a McJob is heating up.

Protests for pay of $15 an hour and a union for fast-food and other low-wage workers are set to take place around the country Wednesday, marking the biggest effort yet in an ongoing campaign by labor organizers.

The push comes just two weeks after McDonald’s announced a pay bump for workers at its company-owned stores, suggesting the chain is trying to take control of its image as an employer.

The Fight for $15 campaign is being spearheaded by the Service Employees International Union and began in late 2012 with fast-food workers. Since then, the campaign has morphed to rally a variety of low-wage workers, including airport workers and home care workers. Adjunct professors will be among the latest to join the demonstrations Wednesday, which organizers say are planned for more than 230 cities and college campuses.

Kendall Fells, organizing director for Fight for $15, said McDonald’s remains a focus of the protests and that the company’s recent pay bump shows fast-food workers already have a de facto union.