Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
McDonald’s workers plan to strike
Organizers want more focus on stopping sexual 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.
Organizers said the strike would target multiple restaurants — but not every local McDonald’s — in each of the 10 cities: Chicago; Durham, N.C.; Kansas City, Mo.; Los Angeles; Miami; Milwaukee; New Orleans; Orlando; San Francisco and
St. Louis.
McDonald’s, in an email to The Associated Press, defended its antiharassment efforts.
“We have policies, procedures and training in place that are specifically designed to prevent sexual harassment at our company and companyowned 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 antisexual violence organization.
Among the strike organizers is Tanya Harrell, 22, of New Orleans, who filed a complaint with the EEOC in May alleging that her two managers at a local McDonald’s teased her, but otherwise took no action after she told them of sustained verbal and physical harassment by a coworker.
“They want people to think they care, but they don’t care,” she said. “They could do a way better job.”