Ordering fast food could end up a lot less fast this week, as labor organizers plan to stage several acts of civil disobedience at restaurants such as McDonald's, in their ongoing effort unionize the industry's workers.

Kendall Fells, an organizing director for Fast Food Forward, told the Associated Press that workers in a couple of dozen cities were being trained to peacefully engage in acts of civil disobedience, but declined to state what exactly is planned during the protests that will reportedly include locations in about 150 cities nationwide.

Others involved in the movement, however, mentioned sit-ins as an example of the types of strategies they could use in the campaign for unionization, along with high pay.

Previous protests targeted a couple of restaurants in each city for a limited time and generally caused little if any disruption to eatery operations.

A spokesman for the Service Employees International Union, a main protest organizer, said home health care aides will join the actions in some locations.

The industry-wide effort to raise minimum basic hourly wages to $15 has gained new attention at a time when income disparities have become a favorite political issue of President Barack Obama, who renewed his call for lawmakers to raise the minimum wage at a Labor Day appearance in Milwaukee.

Many fast-food workers make little more than the federal $7.25 hourly minimum wage, which equates to about $15,000 a year for 40 hours a week.

One of the goals of the fast-food organizing campaign is to draw attention to the plight of restaurant employees, who are often subject to unpredictable schedules and don't know how many hours they'll be given from week to week.

"The goal is to persuade workers that it doesn't have to be this way. The goal is to persuade consumers that it doesn't have to be this way," said Catherine Fisk, a professor of labor law at the University of California in Irvine, said in the AP story. "This is about getting attention to the issue."

Fisk further explained mining and manufacturing jobs were also once considered low-wage jobs with dim prospects. But, those perceptions changed in the 1930s, after legal protections for unionizing and actions by workers helped essentially transformed the jobs into more middle-class professions.

The National Restaurant Association said in a statement that the fast-food protests are attempts by unions "to boost their dwindling membership."

The industry lobbying group added it hopes labor organizers will be respectful to customers, as well as workers, during the upcoming protests.

"Several lawsuits alleging wage theft by McDonald's and its franchisees have been filed in three states on behalf of workers who were referred by labor organizers," the AP said. McDonald's Corp. has announced it would investigate the claims.