Fast food chain McDonald’s Corp.’s decision of hiking the wages of only workers at the company-owned stores, excluding the employees at franchises, has invited fresh protests from the labor organizers.

The displeased labor organizers on Thursday launched nationwide protests against the company’s new policy on wage hike in which workers employed at the franchises were kept aloof.

The demonstrations are part of an ongoing series of actions that have been designed in order to impose pressure on the companies for embracing a minimum wage of USD 15 per hour and allow the workers to form unions without any fear of retaliation.

Kendall Fells, organizing director of advocacy group Fast Food Forward, said, “This move happened for one reason as workers joined together and went on strike. And workers will continue joining together and going on strike until McDonald’s responds with more than a publicity stunt.”

The planners said that the employees across dozens of cities including Detroit, New York, Los Angeles and Las Vegas will be rallying in a bid to criticize the company’s move, which has been termed by some as a ‘disingenuous strategy’.

Oak Brook-based McDonald’s on Wednesday announced its new wage policy, saying it would begin paying the American workers at least a US dollar more than the local minimum wage at the corporate restaurants beginning in July.

The new wage plan of the fast-food giant is very much similar to the recently announced hikes in salary from big retailers like Target Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Nearly 90 percent of the 14,000 American locations of McDonald’s are owned by franchisees.

The labor organizers said that their plan is to stage a massive strike across 200 cities on April 15.