I'm wondering who'll go my bail, but customers are clapping and chanting too
It's a fast-food workers' action. And solidarity matters, so I show
Perhaps fifty or a hundred have come. Somebody hands me a sign. There are a variety: KFC, Burger King, McDonalds, this, that. In a few minutes, we begin walking
The man beside me introduces himself and tells me the young woman behind me is nervous
I turn to tell her she'll be all right. She doesn't seem convinced
We are commandeering a local franchise, I learn
Well, solidarity really does matter, so I enter too. An employee steps out of the way to let me pass. I thank him and take my place in line
"We can't survive on seven twenty-five!" folk chant
It's a nice in-your-face action. The poor manager repeatedly peeks from the kitchen door, always on her cellphone
"We can't survive on seven twenty-five!"
There's a bullhorn speech on the impossibility of living on fast-food service wages
"We can't survive on seven twenty-five!"
I figure the police will arrive any minute, and I'm starting to wonder who'll go my bail, but a number of customers are clapping and chanting with us
I'm backed up against a table at which an older woman is eating. Her friend appears with two sundaes, so I move to let her pass. I suspect she may not support us, but she thanks me kindly and sits: manners matter here in the South
"We can't survive on seven twenty-five!"
Police are nowhere in sight yet but we're leaving now
We head towards another franchise, a short distance away
As we arrive, police begin to appear, a car or two at a time, regularly, a few minutes apart, sirens wailing as they come, but the sirens quickly fall silent
There's one arrest. I'm not close enough to see what happened, but nobody seems terribly concerned: he has a lawyer, I hear
I guess we aren't going inside anywhere else uninvited today
So we stand on the sidewalk beside the road, winning some support from motorists, including the usual honks and waves. One driver shouts back, Can't survive on seven twenty-five!
Leaving later, I still count fifteen squad cars, but I know a few have already driven away,
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[hr][font color="blue"][center]TECT in the name of the Representative approves of this post.[/center][/font][hr]
Joseph K. Mulherin
Vedder Price
Monday, March 31, 2014
Seven class action lawsuits were recently filed against McDonald's Corp. and several McDonald's franchisees in California, Michigan and New York. The lawsuits are a direct result of the coordinated effort by plaintiffs' attorneys and the Service Employees International Union to pressure fast-food restaurants to pay their employees at least $15.00 per hour. The lawsuits are also part of a new strategy from the plaintiffs' bar to sue fast-food and pizza franchisors (i.e., the "deep pocket" for the conduct of independently owned franchisees.
The Michigan and New York class actions were filed in federal court and primarily allege that McDonald's Corp. and the franchisees violated federal law by shaving hours from employees' time cards, requiring employees to work off the clock and failing to pay overtime for hours worked in excess of 40 in a workweek. The California class actions were filed in state court and allege a variety of state labor law violations, including minimum wage and overtime violations and missed meal and rest breaks.
The lawsuits allege that McDonald's Corp. is not only culpable for the suits relating to its corporate-owned stores, but also for its franchisees because of McDonald's Corp.'s alleged heavy hand in monitoring and guiding the franchisees' timekeeping, scheduling and other policies. In particular, the Michigan lawsuits allege that McDonald's Corp. is a "joint employer" and thus also liable because it provides financial tracking computer software to franchisees, which allegedly guides when individual store managers may permit employees to be clocked in or on the clock. The software purportedly sends alerts to the manager when labor costs exceed a certain level of sales. As a result, the plaintiffs allege that managers prevented employees from clocking in (even though the employees were working) until the restaurant experienced a certain level of sales ...
http://www.natlawreview.com/article/franchisors-beware-mcdonald-s-workers-sue-alleged-wage-and-hour-violations-franchise
