The Fight for $15 Heads to New Hampshire for Saturday's Republican Debate

Walkouts and protests will take place ahead of Saturday's event.

The top Republican presidential candidates are headed to New Hampshire this weekend, and so is the Fight for $15. Fast food employees are planning to stage walkouts ahead of the eighth Republican debate on Saturday, reports Fortune. It will mark the first time the state's workers have joined the ongoing national push for a $15 wage for hourly workers.

While earlier Fight for $15 protests mainly targeted fast-food chains and other big employers like Whole Foods, as the 2016 presidential race heats up the movement has switched its focus to politicians, holding protests outside the last Democratic debate in Charleston, S.C. as well as previous Republican debates in Milwaukee and Iowa.

While the Fight for $15 has some vocal allies in the Democratic Party, including Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, Republicans are in direct opposition to a higher minimum wage; Trump recently stated that "wages are too high" overall.

In addition to demanding higher wages for hourly workers, the Fight for $15 movement is also pushing for the right to form unions without facing illegal retaliation from employers. Numerous chains such as McDonald's and Chipotle have recently been accused of punishing employees who chose to participate in labor protests; in November, Chipotle was ordered to rehire an employee who was fired after joining the Fight for $15.

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