Something strange and wonderful is happening today in New York City.  Workers who toil for slave wages at fast food restaurants around the city are staging a one-day strike to raise awareness of the conditions under which they toil.  It’s all under the umbrella of Fast Food Forward.

The website, on which you can sign up to stand in solidarity with these underpaid workers, has some great information:

We can’t
survive on $7.25!

In America, people who work hard should be able
to afford basic necessities like groceries, rent,
childcare and transportation.

While fast food corporations reap the benefits
of record profits, workers are barely getting by—
many are forced to be on public assistance despite
having a job.

Raising pay for fast food workers will
benefit workers and strengthen the overall economy.

Fast Food Forward is a movement of NYC fast food workers to raise wages and gain rights at work. It is part of the national movement of low-wage workers fighting for a better future. When we make enough to live – instead of barely getting by – our community and economy benefit.

Fast Food Forward joins the momentum of the Black Friday strikes and other low-wage worker struggles to build community engagement, hold corporations and their CEOs accountable, and to raise wages so that all Americans can prosper

This morning, I welcomed Camille Rivera to the show.  She’s the Executive Director of United NY, one of the groups who worked with NY Communities for Change over the past year to organize today’s action.

I was thrilled to awaken this morning to a lot of coverage on what would happen today from the NY Times, Salon.com and The Atlantic.  Stay tuned, as we’ll have a recap on Monday’s show too.

Russ Baker, the man behind the forensic journalism site WhoWhatWhy.com joined in to talk about a few of their latest stories, along with the the outcome of their kickstarter campaign.

And, to wrap up the week here on the show, Maysoon Zayid joined in to talk about the UN vote on Palestinian statehood, the craziness in the Middle East, and have some fun too.