McDonald's employees in a number of cities are organizing a one-day walkout on Tuesday to protest what they say is ongoing sexual harassment of staff and to ask for the workforce to form a union to help solve the issue.
Fight for $15 and a Union, a group of fast-food and other low-wage workers organizing the walkout, said employees in at least 10 cities intend to stage a strike in response to the allegations of rape and harassment against a 14-year-old McDonald's employee in Pittsburgh by her manager.
The strike would be the latest in a series of nationwide walkouts by workers seeking better pay, better benefits, and stricter workplace protections as a result of a nationwide labor shortage.
"I believe we're in a period where workers are standing up more for their rights," says Jamelia Fairley, a McDonald's employee in Sanford, Florida, who is a lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit that alleges McDonald's has created a hostile work environment that permits sexual harassment and violates the Civil Rights Act.
"I've met other people who have been sexually harassed... We want to form a union to prevent this," Fairley said.
In recent years, McDonald's has faced several allegations of sexual harassment and racism, and workers in the Fight for $15 and a Union have conducted four previous strikes.
McDonald's released new global standards in April, focusing on the prevention of harassment, discrimination, retaliation, and workplace violence.
Restaurants will be judged beginning in January on whether they provide mandatory training on those topics, establish procedures for employees to file complaints, and take other steps.
In a statement to USA TODAY, McDonald's said, every single individual working at a McDonald's restaurant "deserves to feel safe and respected when they come to work, and sexual harassment and assault have no place in any McDonald's restaurant."
"We recognize that more effort is needed to achieve our workplace goals, which is why all 40,000 McDonald's locations will be inspected and held to global brand standards," the company said.
Workers and labor groups, on the other hand, say they've seen little improvement so far and feel that forming a union can help employees achieve better safeguards against harassment and other workplace issues.
