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McDonald's boss 'proud' of wages he pays as thousands demand a pay rise
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.
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McDonald’s new chief executive said he was “proud” of the wages the fast food giant pays its employees on Thursday as thousands of McDonald’s workers and union activists descended on the company’s headquarters near Chicago to hold the biggest ever protest against “poverty wages”.
About 3,000 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.”
Protesting workers were allowed through a police barricade to deliver the petition but complained that they were prevented by security guards from taking it to the actual McDonald’s meeting. A McDonald’s spokeswoman said: “The protesters gave the petition to McDonald’s representatives who respectfully accepted it.”
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.
theguardian