Fast food protests supersized

McDonald’s workers across the country took to the streets yesterday, striking against zero-hour contracts.

More than a hundred people took part in protests outside McDonalds restaurants in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin after negotiations between the Unite Union and fast food giant stalled.

Zero hour contracts don’t guarantee employees any hours of work per week, which workers and unions argue is unfair because they often don’t earn enough to make ends meet and have no control over what hours they work. 

READ: Zero tolerance for Zero hours

Kim Campbell from the Northern Employers and Manufacturers Association told Radio New Zealand it is often essential for employers to use zero hour contracts because the nature of today’s job market means businesses just can’t guarantee work.

@lornadupre @davideclifford without a zero hour contract, most bars, pubs or restaurants couldn't operate.

— Jon Spriggs (@JonSpriggs) April 6, 2015

In Auckland, about 100 people gathered outside the Queen Street McDonald’s, holding placards and chanting – as well as blocking customers from entering.

At least a dozen police were present but no arrests were made.

At the Wellington protest, co-president of Unite union Helenyi Pratley said only those at McDonald’s head office were guaranteed hours.

“We think it’s a humane thing to do. McDonald’s are one of the largest employers in the world. They can absolutely afford to give their workers guaranteed hours each week...They need to do the right thing and get rid of zero hour contracts.”

One Wellington protester (who didn’t want to be named), a member of the Service and Food Worker’s Union, said McDonald’s workers have been taken advantage of for a long time. “People have families. People have bills, but when you’re boss tells you there’s no hours guaranteed for you it’s not fair. It’s always stress.”

Another protester said he was pro-business, but was concerned when companies started exploiting people. “You’ve got to draw a line when it harms fellow citizens.”

NEGOTIATIONS ONGOING

On Monday, McDonalds put out an offer saying it would ensure all its employees receive 80 percent of rostered hours up to a 40 hour cap.

“As a business we roster our people to work hours and they come in and work those hours. What we’re saying is that we will secure at least 80 percent of those rostered hours for our people,” McDonald’s director of human resources Christine Hutton said.

But Unite Union’s national director Mike Treen said while McDonald’s wanted to be seen as doing the right thing, the offer was meaningless and far from genuine.

“I thought it was a dirty way of doing it to be honest because they issued a press statement which didn’t make clear this difference between rostered and hours worked, they put this out at 11.30 whilst we were in bargaining.”

A statement from McDonalds said they were committed to moving away from zero hours contracts but the union had “walked away from the bargaining table.”

LISTEN: Christine Hutton and Mike Treen on Nine to Noon

Restaurant Brands, which owns KFC, Pizza Hut, Carl’s Jr. and Starbucks, agreed to stop using zero hours contracts on Thursday.

Chief executive Russell Creedy said while Restaurant Brands had never really practised zero hour contracts, the change provided better security for both workers and company.

“Having permanent staff who stay with us, loyal, long tenure, is part of a successful business model for our industry,” he told Radio New Zealand

Earlier this week, Burger King also announced it would be scrapping zero hour contracts.

The Government is set to change the law on zero contracts by the middle of the year, but the Labour Party has accused the Government of dragging the chain on the issue.

Leader Andrew Little said Workplace Relations Minister Michael Woodhouse had to be pressured into taking action.

“This is a Minister who frankly has been dithering. It’s only because of public clamour and the campaigning of unions, the Unite Union in particular, that has now seen employers come on board.”

But Woodhouse said the timeframe has not been unreasonable. While he agrees the law definitely needed to be clarified, he was encouraged that some companies were reaching agreements with their staff.

Listen: Michael Woodhouse and Andrew Little on zero hour contracts

AN INTERNATIONAL CRUSADE

Similar protests are expected in the States today as people protest against the minimum wage. The Guardian is live-blogging the movement. 

April 15 is Tax Day in the U.S., the final day tax returns can be filed to the Federal government. Proterstors are calling for the federal minimum wage to be almost doubled to $15 an hour. It currently sits at $7.25 an hour.

Time magazine reports the protest will span more than 200 U.S. cities and 40 countries and fast food workers may be joined by university students, care workers and Walmart employees.

 The issue of the minimum wage in the US been a contentious one for years. John Oliver, host of HBO’s Last Week Tonight, investigated the matter on the Daily Show almost two years ago.

A UC Berkely Labor Center study released this month showed that over half of American fast-food workers were also receiving government assistance, more than any other industry.

Buzzfeed’s Abe Forman-Greenwald looked into one worker’s struggle with Mcdonald’s, while the Guardian has a whole section on income inequality and Patricia Cohen of the New York Times investigated the issue of government assistance of low-paid workers.

President Obama has called for congress to lift the federal minimum wage to $10.10 – but even that is far from what protestors are calling for.