McStrike gets support from across Cambridge, but McDonald's says no-one due to work took part

A protest was held outside Cambridge McDonald's as workers demand £10 per hour.

Support came from across Cambridge for McDonald’s workers who were on strike today (Tuesday).

Over 95 per cent of workers at 5 stores reportedly voted in April for strike action. The BFAWU (Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union) members are calling for £10 an hour, a choice of fixed-hour contracts, the end of unequal pay for young workers, and for union recognition.

City council leader Lewis Herbert said: “Labour councillors believe that McDonald’s staff deserve a decent wage for the work they do which often involves long and unsocial hours and their younger workers deserve to be paid equally with all colleagues for the same work.

“The company pay structure is complex but a move to £10 per hour as the minimum would be a real sign that the management recognise the contribution their staff make to the company and that the need to be paid properly to be able to afford housing costs in cities like Cambridge and London.”

Daniel Zeichner, MP for Cambridge, said: “I fully supported the McDonald’s strikers last September and am fully in support of their courageous action now, and I will be raising their case in the House of Commons on Tuesday. Their efforts in September showed that, with support from your union, workers can be heard by the bosses at the top. Those on strike are standing up for all McDonald’s staff in looking for better pay and conditions and I hope that management listen to them.”

However, McDonald’s says no employees in Cambridge went on strike. The people outsite the fast food restaurant were all protesters.

Of three scheduled strikes, McDonald’s said: “We can confirm that across these three restaurants only one person who was scheduled to work took industrial action and this was in Manchester. Other attendees, at Cambridge and Crayford, were protesters and not our employees on strike.

“While we are disappointed, given our focus on putting people at the heart of our business, we are reassured that the number of our people involved is very low and an extremely small proportion of our UK workforce of 120,000.

“It is also regrettable that, during this process, we have had reports of intimidation of our people from activists. That is not behaviour we tolerate under any circumstances and we intend to investigate this further.

“We take the interests and well-being of our people very seriously and encourage anyone to speak up if they ever have any concerns.”

It has not been confirmed that this behavior was reported in Cambridge.