NEWS
EVENTS
McDonald workers are set to go on strike!
McDonald's workers will be going on strike at two fast food restaurants in the UK. This will take place on the 4th of September, the same day as the US labour day holiday. In order to gain support from neighbouring allies from across the pond against this conglomerate fast food chain.
This date has come about due to the staff at Cambridge and Crayford that had voted in numbers to go on strike. McDonald workers are demanding a minimum wage of £10 an hour, which is fair considering that some are on their feet from morning till night.
The specific date was chosen to show solidarity to workers in the US and other international fast food employees. Labour Day was a rather fitting symbolism for this strike date, according to the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU).
For many years now thousands of US fast food workers have taken part in labour day demonstrations as part of 'Fight for 15', a campaign dedicated to providing workers with a $15 hourly wage.
The UK strike is going ahead with the help of foreign organisers from the united union in New Zealand, who will be paying a visit to striking workers. The unite organization has won other causes such as $15 minimum wage per hour and legislation outlawing zero-hours contracts, in New Zealand.
Employees from Belgium will also be coming down to London to show solidarity to the UK strike.
The BFAWU is hoping for international support, its goal is to hopefully gather momentum from allied unions in other countries, to participate on the 4th of September. A BFAWU representative said: “In the past, we have had action on every continent.”
A turn of events saw McDonald's announce an offer of guaranteed-hour contracts to workers who wanted them. But the BFAWU has spoken out saying that, as most employees were not told about this change in contract until they decided to go on strike.
Organiser Gareth Lane said: “All of a sudden they’ve put it online where workers can see that all workers will have a contract with guaranteed hours by the end of the year. This is a huge victory for these workers who’ve stood up, decided to organise and take this strike action.”
He went on to say that the whole purpose of this strike was to place pressure on the fast food chain to deliver on its offer. “We don’t trust McDonald’s to deliver these guaranteed hours to workers,” he said. “We want them to sign, legally, that they’ll give these guaranteed contracts by the end of the year.”
Shen Batmaz, a McDonald worker and campaigner went on to add that international support has given fast food employers more confidence to go forward with the strike.
“For a long time we were told as fast food workers we were really hard to organise because people leave all the time and a lot of us are young people,” she said. “For us to see there were people doing it, not just in the US but all over the world, we knew it was time for us to come together.”
Support the movement by going to the Unite the Resistance website.
