As restaurants raise wages, workers see moment for industry-wide change

Demand for the low-wage workers has crippled a multibillion-dollar industry.

A handful of major restaurant chains across the nation have recently announced that they are raising wages in a bid to attract workers as they finally begin to reopen at full capacity. As the coronavirus pandemic eases and patrons -- fueled by pent-up demand and stay-at-home fatigue -- flock to eat out, some workers and advocates see this apparent labor shortage as an opportunity to call for industry-wide wage reform. "It's time for everyone, every worker in the U.S., to be heard," Carlos De Leon, 40, who has worked at a Chicago-area McDonald's franchise for 10 years but still does not earn $15 an hour, told ABC News through a Spanish translator. De Leon, a single father of three, said he is participating in a strike on Wednesday organized by the Fight for $15 advocacy group to demand higher wages.