Yuma Sun

Some McDonald’s workers to strike over harassment

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NEW YORK — Emboldened by the #MeToo movement, McDonald’s workers have voted to stage a one-day strike this 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.

Carlson is an attorney for Fight for $15, a national movement seeking to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour. She said McDonald’s has successful­ly resisted efforts to unionize its employees, and suggested that workers’ anger related to sexual harassment might fuel broader efforts to gain better working conditions.

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 co-worker. Harrell, who makes $8.15 an hour, said she and many of her colleagues were skeptical of the company’s commitment to combating harassment.

“They want people to think they care, but they don’t care,” she said. “They could do a way better job.”

 ?? ASSOCIATED PRESS ?? THIS AUG. 8 FILE PHOTO shows the logo of McDonald’s at its flagship restaurant in Chicago.
ASSOCIATED PRESS THIS AUG. 8 FILE PHOTO shows the logo of McDonald’s at its flagship restaurant in Chicago.

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