We've just received this information from a concerned employee at a drive thru store in the north of England. [We are withholding the store details to protect our source].

The store has posted this official notice on the crew notice boards:

"No employee will demonstrate or associate with the media against McDonalds on October 16th whether scheduled to work or not. Those who are caught doing so will be liable for immediate dismissal."

This outrageous threat shows the panic the company gets in when workers want to think for themselves or exercise their rights.

It is thought to be illegal, in contravention of the European Convention on Human Rights.

We in the McLibel Support Campaign call for solidarity with McDonald's workers, for support for their efforts to improve their wages, conditions and rights at work, and for support for their human rights to freedom of expression.

Background

On October 12th 1992 Mark Hopkins, a worker at a McDonald's store in Manchester, was electrocuted by a faulty fat filtering machine. A secret internal company report into the incident concluded: 'Safety is not being seen as important at store level'. The same year, a confidential investigation into McDonald's UK by the UK Health and Safety Executive concluded: 'The application of McDonald's hustle policy [ie getting staff to work at speed] in many restaurants was, in effect, putting the service of the customer before the safety of employees'. McDonald's Crew Training Programme at the time stated: 'Q. When do you hustle? A. All the time.'

From 1993 onwards, Mark Hopkins' parents organised commemorative protests outside the Manchester store each year on Oct 12th.

In 1996 the McLibel Support Campaign, along with the Hopkins family and friends, began calling for an annual international Day of Solidarity With McDonald's Workers on Oct 12th, and special leaflets were widely distributed in many countries. The McLibel defendants attended a demonstration on that day in Chicago, USA, - outside a store where there had been a long and bitter unionisation battle in 1978 after a majority of staff had joined a union.

"I want every McDonald's worker to stand up for their rights, which is why I am backing this campaign 100%. In this way, Mark's death will not have been in vain."
- Maureen Hopkins, Mark's mother.

In 1995 and 1996 dozens of employees and ex-employees testified for the defence during the McLibel trial.

In 1997 the trial judge ruled that McDonald's ‘pay low wages, helping to depress wages in the catering trade’ and was 'strongly antipathetic to any idea of unionisation of crew in their restaurants'.

On conditions of employment, he ruled that "Despite the hard and sometimes noisy and hectic nature of the work, occasional long, extended shifts including late closes, inadequate and unreliable breaks during busy shifts, instances of autocratic management, lack of third party representation in cases of grievance and occasional requests to go home early without pay for the balance of the shift if business is slack, I do not judge the [McDs] conditions of work, other than pay, to be generally 'bad', for its restaurant workforce." [The defendants appealed over this - see below]

He did, however, judge that the practice of pressurising staff to go home if a store was quiet, without being paid for the balance of the shift "should not happen at all, and in my judgement it shows where the ultimate balance lies between saving a few pounds and interest of the individual". The evidence, he ruled, 'has disclosed unsatisfactory aspects of McDonald's working conditions'.

McDonald's did not appeal over the rulings later stating that the Judge was 'correct in his conclusions'. [McDonald's written submissions 5.1.99].

On March 31st 1999 the Court of Appeal ruled it was fair comment to say that McDonald's employees worldwide ‘do badly in terms of pay and conditions’.

In 2000 McDonald's workers in Scotland launched an international network of McDonald's employees - the McDonald's Workers Resistance.

In 2002 the MWR called for McDonald's workers around the world to take joint action with anti-McDonald's protestors on October 16th. Workers were encouraged to phone in sick, hold partial walk-outs and go slows etc, and send messages of support to protestors outside stores.

That year MWR said: 'It will be the first ever co-ordinated, international, worker-led mobilisation by the McDonalds workforce. October 16th was chosen because since the mid-1980s it has been the date of world anti-McDonalds day. So, simultaneous to our actions, people who do not work for McDonalds but are opposed to its labour practices, cruelty to animals and destructive environmental impact, will also be engaged in actions at McDonalds restaurants all over the world. We hope that all actions can be mutually supportive.'

The Glasgow (Scotland) MWR branch demanded that:

'All those employed by McDonalds, anywhere in the world, be allowed to organise themselves as they wish and that they be allowed to conduct the business of their chosen organisations on company premises, be allowed to display notices in staff areas and generally circulate information without hindrance. That this right to organisation and free expression is not dependent on the number of people involved in the organisation and that no person shall be prejudiced against for involvement in such an organisation. This demand applies to those employed directly and indirectly by McDonalds and so includes, for example, those employed to make happy meal toys or company packaging. Our lives may be very different but our struggle is the same. Finally, we ask McDonalds to make explicit that they do not own their employees and that they have no right to dictate what we can and cannot believe or express at any time.'

The 2002 Oct 16th call for joint action was a brave one considering the global corporation's track record in suppressing any independent workers rights, activity or organisation - backed up with threats of sackings. In the week before, Helen Steel and Dave Morris (the McLibel 2) and a representative of MWR attended an international conference in Holland called by the International Union of Foodworkers. Trade Union delegations from about 15 countries from many corners of the world swopped experiences with trying to recruit and support McDonald's workers - the general picture was a great deal of effort but little success against company opposition. Underground resistance networks like the MWR appeared to be one way to fight back.

On the day itself, according to reports received, action included: strikes in stores in Paris and Norfolk; a stoppage in Moscow; attempted strike at a store in New Zealand and London, England; a walkout in Nottingham; collective resignations in Glasgow; many acts of absenteeism, defiance and disruption by individuals and small groups of workers in many countries including the US, Ireland, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Madrid and Germany. In addition there were solidarity actions by protestors in support of McDonald's workers in the North of Ireland, Germany, Australia, Scotland, Sweden, Serbia and England and especially in Italy (including a blockade in Milan).

Info: mwr.org.uk  
 
 
 
contact details 
 
McLibel Support Campaign
5 Caledonian Road, London, N1 9DX, UK.
Tel/Fax: +44 (207) 713 1269
E-mail: mclibel@globalnet.co.uk
Web: http://www.mcspotlight.org 
 
 
 
related links  
 
- press releases & statements
- press cuttings: McDonald's
- press cuttings: McLibel
- press cuttings: Campaigns
- press cuttings: McLibel film
- press cuttings: related stuff
- The McLibel Trial
- witnesses statements, transcripts, evidence