McDonald's and Burger King both spoke about the strike. They said they did not make decisions about how much to pay workers in most of their restaurants. They said each restaurant is an independent franchise and the manager decides how much to pay the staff. McDonald's profits were over $5.5 billion in 2011. The burger giants did say that an increase in wages would mean more expensive burgers. America's National Restaurant Association said the wages were low because the staff are young and have little work experience. It said: "Only five per cent of restaurant employees earn the minimum wage and those that do are [mainly] working part-time and half are teenagers."