Fast-food workers are planning strikes in 100 cities across the country Thursday in an effort to step up pressure on chains such as McDonald’s and Wendy’s to pay $15 an hour, The New York Times reported Sunday.

Such actions have picked up significant momentum since 200 fast-food workers walked off the job in November 2012 as part of a daylong strike at more than 20 restaurants in New York.

“There’s been pretty huge growth in one year,” Kendall Fells, one of the main organizers in the movement, told The New York Times. “People understand that a one-day strike is not going to get them there. They understand that this needs to continue to grow.”

This will be the first time strikes are held in some of the cities, including Charleston, S.C.; Providence, R.I.; and Pittsburgh. Fast Food Forward and Fight for 15, as well as the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), are among the groups backing the movement. The SEIU is also demanding that restaurants allow workers to unionize without being retaliated against.