Some Mcdonald’s workers to strike
Actions in 10 cities target harassment
NEW YORK — Emboldened by the #Metoo movement, Mcdonald’s workers have voted to stage a oneday strike next week at restaurants in 10 cities in hopes of pressuring management to take stronger steps against on-the-job sexual harassment.
Organizers say it will be the first multistate strike in the U.S. specifically targeting sexual harassment.
Plans for the walkout — to start at lunchtime on Sept. 18 — have been approved in recent days by “women’s committees” formed by employees at dozens of Mcdonald’s restaurants across the U.S. Lead organizers include several women who filed complaints with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in May alleging pervasive harassment at some of Mcdonald’s franchise restaurants.
The strike comes as union-backed organizations have been putting pressure on Mcdonald’s on several fronts for better working conditions, including $15 an hour wages — at a burger chain that employs tens of thousands of people around the country, many of them at low pay.
Organizers said the strike would target multiple restaurants — but not every local Mcdonald’s — in each of the 10 cities: Chicago; Durham, North Carolina; Kansas City, Missouri; Los Angeles; Miami; Milwaukee; New Orleans; Orlando, Florida; San Francisco and St. Louis.
They said they could not predict with precision how many workers would join the strike, but noted that hundreds of workers had participated in the committee meetings at which the strike was planned.
Mcdonald’s, in an email to The Associated Press, defended its anti-harassment efforts.
“We have policies, procedures and training in place that are specifically designed to prevent sexual harassment at our company and company-owned restaurants, and we firmly believe that our franchisees share this commitment,” the company said.
The company also disclosed a new initiative that will engage outside experts to work with the company to help “evolve” those policies and procedures. Some of the experts would come from Seyfarth Shaw at Work, an employment law training firm, and RAINN, an anti-sexual violence organization.
Labor lawyer Mary Joyce Carlson, who has been collaborating with women who filed the EEOC complaints, says the company needs to back up such gestures with tougher enforcement.
“We see no evidence there’s been any change at all,” she said. “Whatever policy they have is not effective.”
Organizers of the planned walkout say strikers will be demanding that the company improve procedures for receiving and responding to harassment complaints, and require anti-harassment training for managers and employees. Another demand will be formation of a national committee to address sexual harassment, comprised of workers, representatives from corporate and franchise stores, and leaders of national women’s groups.