Amid Employees' Efforts To Make $15 An Hour, McDonald's Raised Its CEO's Salary By Nearly 400 Percent Last Year

McDonald's employees all over the country are currently campaigning to make a livable wage of $15 an hour, and have been for the last several years.

Only at its 1,500 corporate-owned locations do employees make more than the federal minimum wage — approximately $10 an hour compared to the $7.50 an hour earned by employees of McDonald's franchises, of which there are an estimated 14,350 in the United States. 

Meanwhile, the burger business was more than happy to give its CEO, Steve Easterbrook, a healthy raise of 368 percent last year, bringing his salary from $1.69 million in 2014 to $7.91 million, according to files obtained by Crain's Chicago. This figure included Easterbrook's base pay of $1.03 million, $5 million in stock options, and $1.47 million in non-equity incentive plan compensation.

As if his more-than-quadrupled paychecks weren't enough, Easterbrook was also given an "allowance" for a company car, financial planning, use of the McDonald's corporate aircraft, and other personal items, worth a total of $224,235.

Easterbrook's substantial raise reflects, at least in part, the company's profits due to things like all-day breakfast and efforts to appear healthier and cleaner as an overall brand.

As of March 2016, a year since Easterbrook took over as CEO from Don Thompson, his base salary has been increased a further 18.2 percent to $1.3 million.