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Neate writes: "Thousands of McDonald's employees and union activists descended on the company's headquarters near Chicago on Thursday to hold the biggest ever protest against 'poverty wages' paid to most of its 400,000 employees, as the company's board gathered for its annual shareholder meeting."

Activists and workers converge near the McDonald's campus in Oak Brook, Illinois, during an SEIU-backed Fight for $15 rally on Wednesday. (Photo: Antonio Perez/Zuma Press/Corbis)
Activists and workers converge near the McDonald's campus in Oak Brook, Illinois, during an SEIU-backed Fight for $15 rally on Wednesday. (Photo: Antonio Perez/Zuma Press/Corbis)


McDonald's Workers Descend on Headquarters to Protest 'Poverty Wages'

By Rupert Neate, Guardian UK

21 May 15

 

Employees chant ‘We work, we sweat, put $15 in our cheque’ in biggest protest by low-wage workers as board faces angry shareholders inside closed meetings

housands of McDonald’s employees and union activists descended on the company’s headquarters near Chicago on Thursday to hold the biggest ever protest against “poverty wages” paid to most of its 400,000 employees, as the company’s board gathered for its annual shareholder meeting.

About 5,000 McDonald’s employees from across the US chanted: “We work, we sweat, put $15 in our cheque” as they marched towards the burger giant’s headquarters holding banners reading “McDonald’s: $15 and Union Rights, Not Food Stamps.”

As the meeting began protesters delivered a petition signed by 1.4m people calling on the company to support a $15 minimum wage and to respect workers’ rights to unionize.

“We’re here to tell McDonald’s and its shareholders to invest in the company and its workers instead of wealthy hedge fund managers and executives,” said Kwanza Brooks, a McDonald’s worker and mother of three from Charlotte, North Carolina, who is paid $7.25 an hour. “We’re tired of relying on food stamps to feed our own families. We need $15 and the right to form a union and we need it now.”

Terrence Wise, 35, travelled 12 hours by bus from Kansas City with his three young daughters. “Was it worth it to stand here? Yes definitely. I want my voice to be heard. I’ve worked at McDonald’s and Burger King for 11 years earning $8 an hour. I have three little girls to care for. I work two jobs, my partner works too, yet we still struggle to survive. We rely on food stamps. I don’t want to live on food stamps, I want to get paid what I deserve and work hard for. McDonald’s can clearly afford to pay us a living wage. They need to, now.”

McDonald’s dismissed the demonstrations as a publicity campaign by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which is working to organize workers across the fast-food industry. “The union has spent its members’ dues money in the past two years attacking the McDonald’s brand...in an unsuccessful attempt to unionize workers,” the company said in a statement.

Earlier this year, McDonald’s announced it would raise pay for workers at company-owned restaurants to $1 above the local minimum wage. Company-owned stores account for only about 10% of McDonald’s.

In the meeting Steve Easterbrook, newly appointed chief executive officer, said he was “incredibly proud” of the move and said the company was not responsible for the wage decisions of its franchisees. “We voluntarily took leadership,” he said.

Many of the protesters arrived on Wednesday and held a rally outside McDonald’s headquarters in Oak Brook, a suburb about 20 miles west of Chicago. On stage, Adriana Alvarez, one of 101 McDonald’s workers arrested for protesting at the meeting last year, said: “We’re here to make it clear to McDonald’s that we want $15 and union rights. We don’t need food stamps, and we definitely don’t want buybacks [in which the company buys its own shares to benefit shareholders].”

Alvarez, who has worked at McDonald’s for five years, said she is paid so little that she needs food stamps and Medicaid to care for her three-year-old son, Manny.

The company, which has taken the highly unusual step of banning the media from the meeting, on Wednesday closed many of its corporate offices and its on-site restaurant and removed “Golden Arches” flags from its properties.

Mary Kay Henry, president of the SEIU, said: “It’s time for McDonald’s to respect the workers on the frontlines as much as they have respected shareholders by putting $30bn in their pockets over the last 10 years.”

As well as pressure on the streets outside, McDonald’s faced some tough questions from its shareholders, angry at the company’s failure to keep up with the changing tastes of consumers.

Easterbrook was quizzed about the role of Ronald McDonald and the company’s marketing to children. “What sort of modern, progressive company sends a clown to schools,” asked shareholder and blogger Leah Segedie.

Easterbrook defended the company mascot. “Ronald is here to stay,” he said. He said Ronald McDonald was feeling “trendier and even more confident” after a recent makeover.

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