More than 100 people have been arrested at the Illinois headquarters of fast-food giant McDonald’s in a protest calling for higher wages and the right to unionize. A crowd of up to 2,000 people, including several hundred McDonald’s employees in uniform, marched on the company’s “Hamburger University” campus near Chicago. The demonstrators are calling for a $15 an hour minimum wage in line with the fast-food protests held around the world last week.

Janah Bailey, McDonald’s employee: “As workers, we went on strike. We’ve talked to other workers. We’ve had petition signings in our store. We’ve done all we can. We’ve requested meetings with the general managers. We’ve done all that we can. So, right now, today, my presence is saying that I am standing to take that step further and to kick it up a notch, because obviously what we’ve been doing is not enough.”

Kendall Fells, protest organizer: “McDonald’s is the leader of the industry. It’s the fastest-growing industry in the country. And these workers are here to look [CEO] Don Thompson and his shareholders in the face and say, 'We do work for you. We are growing. And we're not going to live in poverty while you sit here and take on billions of dollars in profit. And that’s what this is about.’”

Protest organizers say they will continue their demonstrations outside the annual McDonald’s shareholders meeting today. McDonald’s says it has no plans to take up the issue of worker pay.