McDonald’s workers from major cities in the United States have begun their eight-country, three-continent tour in support of the global labor movement.
Workers from franchises in New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles made their way to places such as the Philippines, the United Kingdom and Argentina to speak and enlist fast-food workers, unions and elected officials from around the world to support the push for higher pay and the right to organize.
“We’re a global movement now,” said South America-bound Dora Pena, a 50-year-old mother who has worked as a custodian and a cook at a Chicago McDonald’s for eight years, in a statement. “This fast-food worker movement is teaching a lot of people like me that we can speak up for ourselves, that we have rights and that we deserve more for our families. We’re eager to take that lesson and share it with workers overseas.”
Pena is paid $8.65 an hour and relies on public assistance to support her daughter.
The workers’ trip was organized by the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations, which is a federation composed of 396 trade unions in 126 countries. According to members, this tour shows how quickly the New York-based Fight For $15 movement has gone global. With an international meeting in New York City a few months ago, followed by protests in 33 different countries, the pressure has been put on major corporate chains to change their behavior.
Fast-food giants such as McDonald’s have had to rely more and more on international markets to help their bottom line. With a decline in domestic sales, almost all of the chain’s growth comes from markets outside the U.S. Currently, 60 percent of the company’s 35,000 stores are outside the United States and 70 percent of its revenue (and half of its operating profit) comes from international business. McDonald’s dominates the markets in Japan, Europe and Latin America.
“Whether you’re in Los Angeles, Tokyo or Manila, we’re all fighting the same battles for better pay, union rights and respect on the job,” said Moses Brooks, a 23-year-old cashier and cook from Riverside, Calif., in a statement. “This trip is about learning from each other, strengthening the ties between American fast-food workers and our colleagues abroad and building our movement globally.”
After three years on the job, Brooks makes $9 an hour and still relies on food stamps.
In places such as Denmark and Argentina, McDonald’s has honored unions and paid workers what activists call a “fair wage.”
