We're outside McDonald's headquarters on the corner of Cross Lane and The Crescent, and Donald McRonald (not his real name), who works for the bakery that makes the buns for fast food outlets, is outlining conditions...
One day, Donald recalls, he stumbled upon a wage structure sheet from one of the `restaurants', that showed minimum wage workers get just 5p an hour extra for working the unsociable 5am-7am shift; an extra 10p an hour for working the night shift (10pm-5am), an extra 15p an hour for working Saturdays and an extra 20p an hour for working Sundays.
"Many of the staff are apprentices learning how to flip a burger so they don't even get the minimum wage; and the new `Living Wage' doesn't kick in until you're 25" he says "The average age of a McDonald's worker is just over 19 years."
Fellow fast food worker, Jade, adds that under-19 year olds get a lower minimum wage for doing exactly the same job as someone over 19... "But the cost of living is the same for a 19 year old – it's completely unfair..."
She talks about the horror of zero hours contracts under which managers can decide to cut hours, and recounts stories of staff at McDonalds being told to `treat burns with mayonnaise'... "It's crazy really..."
Both Jade and Donald, are members of the Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU), which has called protests and demonstrations throughout the UK today in solidarity with American fast food workers who are on strike in over three hundred cities for a $15 an hour wage.
"We're hoping to inspire the same kind of movement in the UK" Jade explains "We're campaigning for £10 an hour. Places like McDonald's are putting their shareholders before their workers who bring the money in. The food industry is massive in the UK and globally, yet it's completely unfair that companies are making massive profits out of people's suffering; it's modern day slavery."
Jade works at Nando's, which pays £6.70 an hour plus 3% above the minimum wage... "We're saying that it's not acceptable, when they're taking £1,000 per hour; it's unjust...
"I used to work in Subway and I didn't used to get the correct breaks" she adds "I'd do a ten hour shift with a twenty minute break, and if it got busy I'd have to come off that break. That was standard procedure. They used the excuse that, because our lunch was free, our break was paid but it's not; it's a breach of our rights.
"The fast food trade is prolific for treating people with no respect and not valuing its workers" she says "We're taking a stand and saying it's not acceptable..."
Photo by Steven Speed
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