Striking McDonald's Guest Workers Headed to CEO's Chicago Home
Source: The Nation
At a New York City rally tomorrow, striking guest workers will announce major March 26 mobilizations outside McDonald’s corporate headquarters in Chicago, and at the home of company CEO Don Thompson.
As The Nation has reported, the strikers are students who came to the United States from Asia and Latin America on J-1 visas, which are designated for educational and cultural exchange. Working at McDonald’s stores in central Pennsylvania, they allege they were assigned shifts of up to twenty-five consecutive hours, lived in sub-standard employer-owned housing and faced retaliation and threats when they raised objections or declined work. Organizers from the National Guestworker Alliance, the labor group which has been working closely with the workers since late last month, say that fifteen of the seventeen guest workers employed by McDonald’s franchisee Andy Cheung are participating in the week-old work stoppage.
Cheung did not respond to a request for comment. In a statement e-mailed Friday, McDonald’s said, “We take the well-being of the employees working in McDonald’s restaurants seriously.” The company added that it was “currently investigating this matter,” and would provide franchisees with resources “to ensure they understand both the letter and the spirit of all the requirements of the State Department’s J-1 Visa program, as well as all applicable laws and the expectations for full compliance by McDonald’s.”
“They say they want to know what happened,” striker Alicia Marin told The Nation. But “they don’t ask the real students what happened.”
FULL story at link.
Read more: http://www.thenation.com/blog/173319/striking-mcdonalds-guest-workers-headed-ceos-chicago-home#
A McDonalds store. (Flickr/Sean MacEntee)
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