McDonald's is one of the largest fast food chains in the world. The vast majority of its restaurants operate as franchisees. The ownership and legal structures significantly impact the bargaining power and industrial relations between McDonald's and its workers. [1]
In a 2021 Vice News report, it was revealed that McDonald's engaged in corporate surveillance of union organizers and McDonald workers in Chicago and London involved with the Fight for $15 campaign which is financed by the US based Service Employees International Union. [2]
McDonald's Australia opened its first restaurant in Yagoona, a suburb of Sydney, in 1971. [3]
In late December 2018 and January 2019, Retail and Fast Food Workers Union (RAFFWU) began a major campaign in improving McDonald's workers conditions. The campaign revolved around the company's unlawful denial of employees' 10-minute breaks. [4] Several McDonald's stores claimed that workers could either access drinking and toilet facilities at this time or take their allocated break. RAFFWU responded that this contravened the negotiated agreement and that workers had the right to drink water or go to the toilet whenever they wished.
RAFFWU organized a "historic" protest in front of the Myer Centre McDonald's in Brisbane, demanding "basic human rights" like drinking water. [4] [5]
In 2019, RAFFWU member Chiara Stains with the support of RAFFWU commenced litigation against Tantex holdings for breach of numerous workplace and human rights. In September 2020 the Federal Court ruled in favor of Chiara and RAFFWU and ruled that workers have the legal right to take toilet breaks and drink water, which Tantex had threatened to withhold in a breach of employee's workplace rights. [6] Chiara receive A$800 in lost breaks and $1000 compensation, and the McDonald's franchisee was fined $82,000 in total. [7]
McDonald's Austria has 4,000 workers across 80 restaurants as of 1999. 80% of these restaurants operate as franchisees. While workers were covered by collective agreements of HGPD union (which later merged into Vida) since 1977 when McDonald's opened in Austria, McDonald's relationship with trade unions was non existent until 1994. [1] : 402–405
In contrast to the works council system in Germany, Austrian labor law requires candidates to be EU citizens, which is a challenge for the ~70% migrant workers of McDonald's Austria. With no works council members, trade unions are not easily able to monitor compliance with existing collective agreements. [1] : 402–405
McDonald's Denmark has 4,000 workers across 80 restaurants. 90% of these restaurants operate as franchisees. When McDonald's arrived in Denmark in 1981, it engaged in industrial disputes with Restaurant Trade Union, before concluding a regional collective agreement in 1989. In theory, every restaurant could have union representatives and no cooperation committees (Danish equivalent to works council). As of 1999, only one restaurant had a union representative, and none had a cooperation committee. [1] : 405–408
McDonald's Germany employs 65,000 workers across its 1,470 restaurants. 1,313 (or 90%) of these restaurants are managed as franchisees. [8] McDonald's Germany notably does not have any employee representatives on its Supervisory Board, despite having over 50,000 employees, well above the legal threshold of 2,000 employees specified in the Co-determination Act. This is because it is wholly registered in under the American McDonald's Corporation in Chicago, Illinois, which is permitted under the German-American Trade Agreement. [1] : 398
Works Councils can be set up in any establishment in Germany with 5 or more employees. In theory, every single McDonald restaurant could have a Works Council. In 2002, 50 restaurants out of 1,150 had Works Councils. Since 1999, a company wide Central Works Council (GBR) was established. [1] : 399–402
The food and beverage trade union NGG alleges that McDonald's engages in union busting and retaliates against union affiliated Works Councils. Allegations include changing the ownership of union friendly restaurants into separate holding companies (so they cannot participate in the GBR election) and setting up a parallel employer friendly Central Works Council, with the two competing for legal legitimacy. [1] : 399–402
McDonald's Japan was first established in Ginza, Tokyo district in 1971. The majority (70 percent) of McDonald's Japan restaurants are managed directly by the corporation with the remaining franchisees being operated overwhelmingly by former McDonald's employees as of 2012. [9] : 612
The McDonald's Japan Union (Nihon Makudonarudo Yunion) was established on 15 May 2006 with 200 initial members, later on with the support of RENGO, the Japanese Trade Union Confederation. [9] Unpaid overtime, working conditions of full and part-time were some of the expressed factors for forming a union. [10]
In 2005, Takano Hiroshi, a McDonald's store manager (tenchō) visited the community union Tokyo Kanrishoku Union (Tokyo Managers Union) to file a grievance against McDonald's over unpaid hundreds of overtime pay and employee misclassification. Shortly afterwards, labor inspectors visited several restaurants, including his worksite and mandated personnel improvements. Management subsequently accused Takano of alerting them. After failed negotiations, Takano's lawsuit was resolved in a court ruling in 2008, with back pay and overtime afforded to all tenchō employees. McDonald's resisted changing its practices fundamentally, for example providing overtime pay, but also reducing the base wages so that there is little net difference. [11]
McDonald's United Kingdom was first established in 1974. 115,000 workers operated across 1,249 restaurants as of 2017. The vast majority of employees have zero-hour contracts. [12]
In 1999, McDonalds Workers Resistance, a radical non-hierarchical worker's organisation, was formed at a McDonald's outlet in Glasgow, and remained active through to 2004. [13] [14] On 16 October 2002, they organized a "Global Day of Action" which saw labour action in Europe, North America and Oceania. [15] The group's efforts were supported and promoted by the McLibel Support Campaign, which aimed to support London Greenpeace members who were sued by the company for slander due to distributing leaflets which were critical of the company. [16]
On 4 September 2017, the first strike actions were organized at two restaurants in Cambridge and Crayford with support of Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union. [12]
McDonald's first opened in California in 1940. It operates 14,300 franchises. [17] None of the restaurants are unionized. Fight For $15 is the most active labor related campaign, and is funded partly by the SEIU. [18]
McDonald's franchise model and lack of joint-employer status means that each and every single individual restaurant would have to individually vote to unionize. [18] The NLRB in October 2023 paved the way for more expansive definition of joint-employment that would force McDonald's to directly negotiate with trade unions. [19] [20]
A trade union or labor union, often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages and benefits, improving working conditions, improving safety standards, establishing complaint procedures, developing rules governing status of employees and protecting and increasing the bargaining power of workers.
Nicaragua is a presidential republic, in which the President of Nicaragua is both head of state and head of government, and there is a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the National Assembly. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
"McJob" is a slang term for a low-paying, low-prestige dead-end job that requires few skills and offers very little chance of advancement. The term "McJob" comes from the name of the fast-food restaurant McDonald's, but is used to describe any low-status job – regardless of employer – where little training is required, staff turnover is high, and workers' activities are tightly regulated by managers.
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is a labor union representing almost 1.9 million workers in over 100 occupations in the United States and Canada. SEIU is focused on organizing workers in three sectors: healthcare, including hospital, home care and nursing home workers; public services ; and property services.
Working (laboring) time is the period of time that a person spends at paid labor. Unpaid labor such as personal housework or caring for children or pets is not considered part of the working week.
The Communications Workers of America (CWA) is the largest communications and media labor union in the United States, representing about 700,000 members in both the private and public sectors. The union has 27 locals in Canada via CWA-SCA Canada representing about 8,000 members. CWA has several affiliated subsidiary labor unions bringing total membership to over 700,000. CWA is headquartered in Washington, DC, and affiliated with the AFL–CIO, the Strategic Organizing Center, the Canadian Labour Congress, and UNI Global Union.
The Canadian Labour Congress, or CLC is a national trade union centre, the central labour body in Canada to which most Canadian labour unions are affiliated.
New Seasons Market is a chain of neighborhood grocery stores operating in the Portland, Oregon metro area, and southwestern Washington. Some of the products offered are organic and produced locally in the Pacific Northwest, but conventional groceries are also sold.
Japanese labour law is the system of labour law operating in Japan.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) is the largest trade union of public employees in the United States. It represents 1.3 million public sector employees and retirees, including health care workers, corrections officers, sanitation workers, police officers, firefighters, and childcare providers. Founded in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1932, AFSCME is part of the AFL–CIO, one of the two main labor federations in the United States. AFSCME has had four presidents since its founding.
The Retail and Fast Food Workers Union (RAFFWU) is an Australian trade union for workers in the retail and fast food industries.
Tensions between the multinational technology company Google and its workers escalated in 2018 and 2019 as staff protested company decisions on a censored search engine for China, a military drone artificial intelligence, and internal sexual harassment.
Some warehouse workers of Amazon, the largest American e-commerce retailer with 750,000 employees, have organized for workplace improvements in light of the company's scrutinized labor practices and stance against unions. Worker actions have included work stoppages and have won concessions including increased pay, safety precautions, and time off. There are unionized Amazon workers in both the United States and Europe.
A tech union is a trade union for tech workers typically employed in high tech or information and communications technology sectors. Due to the evolving nature of technology and work, different government agencies have conflicting definitions for who is a tech worker. Most definitions include computer scientists, people working in IT, telecommunications, media and video gaming. Broader definitions include all workers required for a tech company to operate, including on-site service staff, contractors, and platform economy workers.
Trade unions have historically been unrecognized by IBM. Since the company's foundation in 1911, it has not recognized any in the United States, despite efforts by workers to establish them from 1970 onward. In Australia, Germany and Italy, several trade unions have limited recognition from IBM. IBM has been able to minimize membership even in traditional union strongholds in Western Europe.
Apple Inc. workers around the globe have been involved in organizing since the 1990s. Apple unions are made up of retail, corporate, and outsourced workers. Apple employees have joined trade unions and or formed works councils in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom and the United States.
As of June 2024, over 10,000 workers at over 400 Starbucks stores in at least 40 states in the United States have voted to unionize, primarily with Workers United. As of March 2023 none have yet enacted a collective bargaining agreement. This unionization effort started at a store in Buffalo, New York. About a third of Starbucks' Chilean workforce is already unionized, as well as 450 workers in New Zealand and eight stores in Canada. The longest Starbucks strike lasted 64 days, took place in Brookline, Massachusetts in September 2022 and resulted in the unionization of the employees at that location.
Tesla, Inc. is an American electric car manufacturer which as of January 2024 employs over 140,000 workers across its global operations, almost none of whom are unionized. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has commented negatively on trade unions in relation to Tesla. Despite allegations of high injury rates, long hours, and below-industry pay, efforts to unionize the workforce have been largely unsuccessful. As of May 2024, there are active labor disputes with Tesla in the United States, Germany and Sweden.
Microsoft recognizes 7 trade unions representing 1,750 workers in the United States at its video game subsidiaries Activision Blizzard and ZeniMax Media since 2022. There is an ongoing union petition at Bethesda Game Studios in Canada. Microsoft South Korea recognizes its union since 2017. German employees have elected Works Councils since 1998.
The subscription music streaming service Spotify employs 7,500 employees globally as of December 2023. Spotify recognizes trade unions at its US podcasting subsidiaries Ringer and Spotify Studios since 2019. In Germany a Works Council exists since 2023. Swedish trade unions are unsuccessful in collective bargaining with Spotify since 2023.