Bay Area McDonald's Workers Walk Out, Demand Higher Wages

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Cooks and cashiers of McDonald's across the Bay Area nd in 15 U.S. cities planned to ditch their duties and join a walkout Wednesday just one day before the fast-food conglomerate's annual shareholders meeting.

Workers demand that McDonald's pay all workers at least $15 an hour as the company deals with a shortage of workers.

Walkouts were planned for multiple McDonald's stores across California Wednesday during which employees planned to underscore what they said is the company's failure to protect them from issues such as wage theft, sexual harassment, workplace violence and a dangerous working environment during the coronavirus pandemic, organizers said.

McDonald's recently said that it would raise pay at its 650 company stores an average of 10 percent over the next few months to $13 and eventually to $15 an hour by 2024. Wages for entry-level shifts will range from $11 to $17 an hour for crew members. For managers, wages will range from $15 to $20 to start, Mcdonald's announced last week.

There are around 14,000 U.S. McDonald's stores; only 5 percent are company-owned. But workers are demanding at least $15 an hour at both company and franchise owned stores immediately.

McDonald's sent the following emailed statement to Patch on Wednesday when asked about the walkouts:

"McDonald’s is lucky to have the hardest working and most dedicated restaurant crew in the industry, who have tirelessly served our communities during this challenging year. That’s why McDonald’s is raising hourly wages for more than 36,500 employees at McDonald’s-owned restaurants by an average of 10 percent. These raises build on competitive benefits package offered to eligible employees in McDonald’s-owned restaurants, including paid time off, access to education, employee assistance, a 401K plan and other rewards programs.

The rally was organized by Fight for $15 and a Union, an advocacy group that is pursuing a national minimum wage of $15 an hour. The fast-food industry has historically been the target of unsuccessful union organizing efforts.

"The workers aren’t demanding to be in any particular union," an organizer from Fight for $15 and a Union told Patch under the condition of anonymity. "The first step is McDonald’s paying them a living wage and listening to their voices."

In San Francisco, a walkout was set to kick off at 12:30 p.m. outside a McDonald's location on at 609 Market Street where workers have complained about the conditions of their employment. In Oakland, a walkout happened around 9 a.m. at a Mcdonald's on 2520 E 12th St.

"I’ve worked at McDonald’s for over a decade, and I’m on strike today — again — because I know the work I do, the work we all do, is worth $15 per hour. McDonald’s made billions off our labor during a global pandemic while workers suffered through unsafe working conditions and unlivable wages," said Imelda Rosales, a Los Angeles McDonald's employee.

"I’m tired of McDonald’s putting profits above our safety and keeping workers like me down, and I’ll continue striking and speaking up until workers get a voice on the job."

Los Angeles employee Maria Rivera walked out of a McDonald's on 1311 W. Washington Blvd. during her shift ahead of the walkout time Wednesday morning, according to a tweet from Fight for $15 L.A.

.@McDonalds worker Maria Rivera has just walked off the job at 1311 W. Washington Blvd.

She joins hundreds of striking fast-food workers and community from across LA County. @McDonalds management has told her to stop organizing.

Never.

We will win. #FightFor15 #AB257 pic.twitter.com/E3dKSnwdte
— Fight for $15 LA (@Fightfor15LA) May 19, 2021

The fast-food industry is suffering from a national labor shortage. Some McDonald's locations offer prospective employees incentives and bonuses, according to multiple reports. The chain also hosted drive-up hiring days in Southern California in recent months.

"We are struggling to get people," a McDonald's franchisee told Insider in April.

In a TikTok video that went viral recently, a McDonald's customer drove through a restaurant to find a sign reading, "We are short-staffed. Please be patient with the staff that did show up. No one wants to work anymore."

Workers on Wednesday are demanding $15 an hour at both company and franchise stores immediately.

"Even as elected officials in Washington D.C. resist demands to increase the federal minimum wage to $15/hr, striking cooks and cashiers will remind McDonald’s that it doesn’t have to wait for Washington to raise wages for all workers who wear the company’s uniform — they can pay workers $15/hr now," strike organizers said in a statement Wednesday. "In a call with investors earlier this year, CEO Chris Kempczinski said, 'McDonald’s will do just fine' with increases to the minimum wage."

Employees also call on the company to withdraw from the National Restaurant Association and the International Franchise Association.

"In 2019, McDonald’s pledged to stop lobbying against local, state and federal minimum wage increases — while continuing to retain membership in the NRA and the IFA," organizers said. "But since then, the NRA and IFA have spent more than $3 million lobbying against increasing the federal minimum wage."

On an earnings call in late April, Kempczinski and McDonald's President Joseph Erlinger hinted that a wage increase could be discussed for McDonald's workers.

"I think one of the things that we are thinking about ... is in our company-owned restaurants, how do we think about what the pay and benefits package needs to look like for us to make sure that we're able to get the people that we need," Kempczinski said.

McDonald's workers in Los Angeles join employees walking out in Oakland, California; San Francisco; Miami; Tampa and Orlando, Florida; Chicago; Detroit; Flint, Michigan; Kansas City, Missouri; St. Louis; Houston; Milwaukee; Durham, North Carolina; and Fayetteville, Arkansas, on Wednesday.