Statement to the press and media
regarding Pleasants Industries (a McDonald's franchise)

We call ourselves Pleasants' Peasants. We are an organization of former employees of Pleasants Industries, which owns and operates seven McDonald's franchises in the Albuquerque area.

From around January 25 to February 7, 1991, over twenty-five employees were fired and are still being fired by Pleasants Industries. Dozens of employees were targeted in an investigation. Before questioning we were told this was just to be a rap session or some sort of interview. Instead, we were taken, one by one, into back rooms and basements and accused of violating store policies, which to our knowledge had never been enforced in the past. We were interrogated by a hired private investigator (Randy Ontiveros, of Rand Investigation Services) who was not even licensed to practice in New Mexico. He threatened us with prosecution if we did not answer his questions. Some of these questions were highly personal in nature: Did we date other employees? What was our credit rating like? Had we ever been in jail or arrested? Have we ever taken drugs? Do we have any savings? What would we find from McDonald's if we went in your home?

We were told that if we co-operated and answered the questions he asked we would retain our jobs. However, all of us were fired despite our co-operation, (one person was fired three weeks after being interrogated and four days after filing a workman's compensation claim). Randy Ontiveros was given access to our personal files and was paid by the company to interrogate us.

Some of us have worked at Pleasants' McDonald's for five years or more. For many of us, Pleasants and McDonald's had been our only place of employment. We deserve better than this! We deserve jobs with dignity and respect!

Some of the questions we want answered are: why didn't Pleasants check Randy Ontiveros' license before hiring him? Does Mr Ontiveros have a history of doing these types of interrogations? Was Pleasants trying to cut back on labor expenses by firing people that made more than minimum wage?

(responses to quotes made by Pleasants in interview)

The members of Pleasants Peasants demand:


It is estimated by McDonald's corporation that one out of five people in the united states has worked for McDonalds' at one time or another. We cannot let this happen again!

With your help, we can try to prevent this from happening to future teens working their first job and also to the growing number of mothers and senior citizens who supplement their income by working part-time.

Help us obtain justice. Let Pleasants Industry and McDonald's corporation know That we cannot accept these kinds of practices in Albuquerque.

Call Pleasants Industries and let them know you support Pleasants' Peasants and want the company to negotiate with us. You can call Pleasants industries, at:

345-7736

Or write to:

3813 Hawkins Rd. N.E.
Albuquerque, NM 87109

Let McDonald's corporation know how you feel about how Pleasants Industries treats it's employees. call or write to:
Brian Erickson
McDonald's Corporation
5251 DTC Parkway Suite 300
Englewood, CO 80111
1 -303- 779-0444.

You can also help by sending donations for attorney fees to Pleasant's Peasants, ( be sure to write Pleasant's Peasants on your check)
C/o Southwest organizing project
211 10th St. S.W.
Albuquerque, NM 87102