The tyranny of a fast-food schedule

When I came to the United States 18 years ago, my American Dream was to get a good job and give my kids opportunities that I never had. I started working in McDonald’s in Manhattan in 2013. I enjoyed my job and I felt so American — after all, McDonald’s is one of the best-known American brands in the world.

I liked the cooking, the interaction with customers and the bustling atmosphere. The hard part was dealing with my schedule. When I started, my schedule would change constantly and with little notice. It was hard to take care of my family, have enough time to work my second job and find time to sleep.

My schedule has become more regular, but I still have a problem with my hours being cut. Now I’m on the schedule for three days a week even though I want more hours.

I’m the sole support for myself and my husband, who has health problems and can’t work. I also help support my daughter and grandchildren. My McDonald’s paycheck is so small that even with my second job, I struggle to make ends meet and I can’t put aside any money to send my daughters to college.

Many of my coworkers are sent home early from their shifts. Sometimes they pay a baby-sitter and a MetroCard fare to get to work, only to be told when they arrive that they’ve been cut from the day’s schedule. Like many of my co-workers, my manager won’t give me more hours when I ask for them.

I’m not sure if it’s to avoid paying for health care or to ensure I never get overtime or if it’s just to retaliate after we won a higher minimum wage. But what I do know is that it’s not enough to survive on.

That’s why it’s so important to thousands of us that the City Council has introduced legislation that will give us a fair work week.

One bill that Council member Brad Lander has introduced says that if our schedules are changed with less than two weeks’ notice, our employer has to pay us a penalty for that change. That would help so many people who struggle to find child care, juggle other jobs and otherwise manage their lives.

Another bill says that fast-food employers have to offer shifts that become available in their stores to existing part-time workers before hiring new part-time workers to fill them.

A third bill, introduced by Council member Corey Johnson, would put a penalty on employers who schedule workers to close their stores and then come back less than 11 hours later to open, depriving them of enough time to go home and rest in between.

The fast-food industry is booming. McDonald’s is part of a $200 billion industry. They should pay their employees enough to cover the necessities and support their families and not force taxpayers to shoulder the burden.

We work hard. We are New Yorkers. We deserve the same respect from the fast-food industry that it gives to its customers. We just want a steady 40-hour-aweek job. We want some time for our families and time for ourselves. Everyone deserves that.

With proper planning, the changes being required in the legislation wouldn’t have to cost employers more money. But they would give us more stable lives and more hours of work if we want them. This would make us more stable employees, which can make our restaurants more efficient and more profitable.

We’ve come a long way in the fight for good fast-food jobs in this city since the first strike four years ago. I have been part of the Fight for $15 and I am proud of what my brothers and sisters and I have achieved in New York: putting all workers in the state on the path to $15 an hour.

We’re also calling on the Council to pass a bill introduced by Council member Julissa FerrerasCopeland that would enable us to make small contributions directly from our paycheck to a nonprofit organization that would help us educate our co-workers about their rights on the job and fight for affordable housing, immigration reform and other issues that would help our families and our communities.

We won $15, but now we’re still fighting to ensure we can plan our lives, support our families and get a step closer to achieving the American Dream. We all deserve that fair chance.