McStrike

Winning better by forming a union and taking action together, in McDonald's, fast food and hospitality.

Fast food and hospitality workers speak out from lock down to demand #100Percent pay from their employers.

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Fast food and hospitality workers speak out from lock down to demand #100Percent pay from their employers. 

  • Many furloughed workers receive first payslip on 80% of pay today. 
  • Fast food workers join forces with Wetherspoon’s workers who won U-Turn
  • Workers speak out in video made from Lockdown 

Fast food and hospitality workers, from Burger King, KFC, McDonald’s, Taco Bell and Wetherspoon’s are today launching a campaign to demand their employers top up the government’s 80% wage support so they can receive “#100Percent”. Most workers will receive their first paycheck with only 80% of their normal wages today. 

Fast food workers in the Mcstrike will join force with Wetherspoons workers in the SpoonStrike who successfully forced their employer to u-turn last week and pay them before the company is reimbursed by the government’s wage support scheme. 

Workers are demanding that their employers prevent them from sliding into deeper poverty and top up the millions in pounds of subsidy they will receive from the government and pay them 100% of their average wages. 

Workers speak out in a video made from “lockdown” where they talk about the impact receiving only 80% of their usual wages will have on their lives. They highlight how 80% will force them to choose between paying the rent, bills or putting food on the table. Endemic low pay in the sector means workers do not have savings to carry them over and they risk sliding into debt. 

Melissa Evans, a McDonald’s worker  from Wandsworth Town, London said: “80% is just not enough, we already live on poverty wages and struggle to get by day to day. Our energy consumption and food costs are going to go up. Our bills are still going to have to be paid. There is too much going out for us to take a 20% cut in wages. Our employer has a moral responsibility to make sure that we are able to survive. We got them where they are it’s time for them to give back and pay us #100Percent” 

Victoria Jordan, a Wetherspoon’s worker from Brighton said:

“We were already on poverty pay and insecure contracts before the Coronavirus. This has just highlighted what was already going on. But we’re not going to stand for it. We’ve been loyal to the company for years, they can afford to pay us 100percent  whilst we can’t afford to live on 80%.” 

Joey Cotton a KFC worker from Sheffield said: 

“#100percent would mean i don’t have to make difficult decisions about rent or bills or food, i could just afford all of them. Fast food wages are not brilliant at the best of times.” 

Alex McIntyre, a Wetherspoon’s worker from Brighton said: 

“I need #100percent because I need hope. I need certainty. We all need the drive to get through the crisis that the whole world is in right now. None of us asked for this to happen. We shouldn’t have to be worrying about how we’ll pay our rent, our bills or our food. The least they can do is pay us our full wages.”

Many employers in the hospitality and fast food sector are requesting support under the government’s wage support scheme, which allows 80% of workers’ average pay to be claimed from the government. Instead of topping up the remaining 20%, workers are often offered 80% under threat of redundancy. The great majority of workers in fast food and hospitality sectors are on zero-hour or minimum-hour contracts which give them little contractual rights. Poverty wages (below the real living wage) are endemic across the hospitality and fast food sectors.  

The workers are supported by the Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union [BFAWU] and anti-poverty charity War on Want.   

Notes to editors: 

For further information / to organise interviews with workers please contact: Owen Espley oespley[@]waronwant.org / mobile: 07861- 362 – 797 

1) Video of workers speaking out from Lock down is available here: https://twitter.com/WarOnWant/status/1245664354676203520 

Contact for high-res versions. 

2) The #McStrike campaign brings fast food workers together to challenge low pay and insecurity. It is supported by The Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) and War on Want. 

3) #SpoonStrike: JD Wetherspoons workers were inspired by the McStrike and joined the BFAWU. Wetherspoon’s workers made history when they went on strike for the first time alongside fast food workers in October 2018. 

4) The BFAWU is the largest independent trade union in the food sector in the British Isles. 

5) Follow on Twitter at @FastFoodRights and @SpoonStrike 

ENDS

Workers Win Wetherspoons U-Turn

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Immediate Release

Reacting to news of Wetherspoons U-turn [1] and agreement to pay ‘furloughed’ staff before receiving funds from the Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, Alex McIntyre, BFAWU Branch 101 Secretary and Wetherspoons worker said: 

“Wetherspoon’s U-turn is welcome. We should never have had to wait till the end of April to be paid. We’re still waiting for confirmation that we’ll be paid 100% of our wages as this is not yet clear. Even on 100% of our wages we struggle to get by because they’re so low. Nobody should have to worry about paying bills, rent or buying food when they work for such a profitable company.  Instead the company has cruelly caused enormous stress and anxiety to its 40,000+ employees. This was an active decision by the company in the midst of a crisis that is affecting the entire world.  

“It is only by coming together to support each other that we can make sure it is not workers who suffer whilst our employers look after their profits. We will not forget this abandonment by the company of its workers. There’s power in a union. Solidarity”

Notes to editors: 

For further information call Owen Espley [oespley[@] waronwant.org / 07861 362797]  

  1. Jo Stevens MP Tweeted; After a session in front of @RachelReevesMP @CommonsBEIS Wetherspoons have u-turned on decision not to pay 43,000 staff while pubs are shut. Staff to be paid on April 3 and weekly after that. Good news, but people won’t forget political pressure forced your hand Tim Martin”. 
  2. Over 12,000 people signed a  BFAWU petition to Tim Martin asking him to ensure  1) Pay their laid off staff immediately, whilst the government money is still coming through.2) Shoulder the extra 20% to make up the difference in wages from the 80% the government have pledged to cover. 3) Pay all bonuses that staff are due in full.
  3. #SpoonStrike: JD Wetherspoons workers were inspired by the McStrike and joined the BFAWU. 

Ends

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Wetherspoons workers have rent to pay…

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Wetherspoons workers have rent to pay and food to buy

Immediate Release 24 March 2020

Reacting to the news that 40,000 Wetherspoons workers, including BFAWU Members,  were notified yesterday that their weekly pay will cease immediately and only resume when Wetherspoons is reimbursed by the government, Ian Hodson President of the BFAWU said: 

“Tim Martin’s actions are shocking. He is ignoring the advice of the government to stand by your workers and instead abandoning them in their time of need. They need to pay rent, buy food and because of the low wages he’s always paid them will not have savings to depend upon. His selfish approach says unless the government puts money into my bank account today he’ll let the workers who have made him rich suffer. It is completely unacceptable.

“This country will not forget the way in which employers have treated their staff during this crisis. Now is the time for all workers to come together and oppose greedy inaction by millionaire bosses.” 


Tim Martin sent a video message [1] to all staff announcing the news in which he suggested staff look for work in supermarkets. BFAWU members reacted on-line releasing their own statement. [2]

A Wetherspoons worker, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “To be told the company won’t pay you until the government grant is enacted at the end of April is hard enough. I’ll be homeless in 2 weeks with no income. Getting told it by Tim Martin, drink in one hand, ending with a half-hearted and sadistic “Good luck!” Is another thing all together. I feel so let down and so, so scared.”

Notes for editors: 
For further information contact oespley[@]waronwant.org / 07861-362-797 
1] The video has been posted online here; https://twitter.com/Dittomoogle/status/1242177322213662730
2) BFAWU members put out their shocked response to the video here: https://twitter.com/SpoonStrike/status/1242198691840172032
Ends#

“McDonald’s workers shouldn’t be facing poverty as well as the corona virus.”

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Immediate Release:  23 March 2020
Responding to McDonald’s announcement of closures, Melissa Evans, 32, who works at McDonald’s in Wandsworth Town said: 


“We’ve still not heard anything from our franchise about the closure. There needs to be communication, clear advice and we need to be told about our pay. McDonald’s needs to make sure all its workers are secure. They need to step up. 

“We were already getting poverty wages, and we are still having to pay 100% of rent and 100% of  bills, so McDonald’s needs to pay us 100% of wages. They need to reassure staff who’ve been off sick or worked less than normal over the last 12 weeks.  

“It’s time for McDonald’s to put back into the communities that they’ve taken out of for so long. McDonald’s workers shouldn’t be facing poverty as well as the corona virus.”

Notes for editors: 
For further information please contact: Owen Espley oespley[@]waronwant.org /   Mobile: 07861-362-797 

McDonald’s has said it will close all 1,270 of its restaurants in the UK by the end of Monday which employ around 135,000 people in the UK, the majority of which are on zero-hours contracts.The chain has said staff directly employed by the company will receive full pay for the next two weeks and 80% of wages (calculated on previous 12 weeks) after that.

Despite announcing a closure to all restaurants, McDonald’s claim franchises (82% of restaurants) will make their own decisions on pay saying they ‘expect franchises to follow suit’.  

The McStrike campaign is spearheaded by The Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU). They aim to ensure fast food workers have the right to a fair wage and decent working conditions across the country.

ENDS

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