low wage strikes
Scroll down for an interactive map of fast-food and retail-worker strike sites in the past couple weeks: IBTimes/Lisa Mahapatra

Over the past two weeks, hundreds of low-wage workers at Walmart, McDonald's, Macy’s, Burger King, Wendy’s and other retail and fast-food establishments have gone on strike in more than 50 cities across the United States.

Workers are demanding pay raises and the right to form a union. Fast-food workers, who earn $9.03/hour on average, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics, want their hourly wage increased to $15/hour.

Walmart employees want their employer to set a minimum annual salary of $25,000, and they want the reinstatement of 20 employees they claim were illegally fired.

Even though Walmart claims its "average full-time hourly associate" gets paid $12.83/hour, OurWalmart, a union-backed members group, claims the average worker makes much less -- $8.81/hour.

“Our members have been completely inspired by these workers who have been willing to sacrifice a day’s pay,” Mary Kay Henry, president of the Service Employees International Union, told Politico.

“I’ve never in my 32 years in the labor movement seen anything like this before,” she said.

Here’s a map of where U.S. fast-food and retail employees have gone on strike in the past couple weeks. Click on any dot to see the name of the city where a strike took place: