McDonald’s employees, emboldened by the #MeToo movement, are staging a one-day strike Tuesday at restaurants in 10 cities across the U.S. hoping to draw attention to alleged sexual harassment at the burger giant.
Organizers say it will be the first multistate walkout protesting sexual harassment, according to the Associated Press.
The strike also comes as union-backed organizations have been putting pressure on the Golden Arches to increase its hourly wages to $15 and provide better working conditions for its employees.
It is unclear how many McDonald’s employees will take part in the walkout, but the planned strike has been approved by women’s committees formed by employees at dozens of restaurants and will include several women who filed complaints with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in May, the AP reported.
At least ten McDonald’s employees have filed charges against the company, according to Law360. Support from the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund has helped pay for their legal fees.
“We have strong policies, procedures and training in place specifically designed to prevent sexual harassment,” McDonald’s said in a statement.
The company also disclosed a new initiative that will engage outside experts to work with the company to help “evolve” those policies and procedures. Some of the experts would come from Seyfarth Shaw at Work, an employment law training firm, and RAINN, an anti-sexual violence organization.
Representatives from the EEOC and Fight for $15, including lawyer Mary Joyce Carlson, did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
Sexual harassment in the restaurant industry has come to light recently as a number of well-known chefs and TV personalities — including Mario Batali, Ken Freidman and Johnny Iuzzini — have been publicly accused of inappropriate behavior. However, the issue is much more pervasive.
The majority of restaurant managerial positions are held by men while women make up the bulk of lower-status, lower paying positions, according to the Culinary Institute of America. This difference in power can create an environment where sexual harassment is tolerated, ignored or even normalize. Employees can often feel uncomfortable bringing up the harassment or may be fearful about losing their job by filing complaints, restaurant industry leaders and human resource managers said during a panel discussion hosted by the CIA earlier this year.
Some 40 percent of women in the fast-food industry reported facing sexual harassment on the job, according to a 2016 survey conducted by Hart Research Associates. The most comment forms of harassment included sexual teasing, jokes, remarks or questions, unwanted hugging or touching and questions about sexual interests or being told unwanted information about other’s sexual interests.
According to Hart Research Associates, 45 percent of women in fast-food cited health problems like anxiety, depression and issues sleeping due to the harassment they faced while on the job.
The majority of respondents said that they tried to avoid their harasser with only four in 10 reporting the issue to their employer.
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