JOIN the GLOBAL DAY of ACTION on McDONALD’S

on 6th June, 2013 at 6PM

at McDonald’s in the C.P. (B-24, Inner Circle, Opposite gate No. 2 of Rajiv Chowk Metro Station)

Dear friends,

As many as 47 unions, labor federations, youth, and human rights organization from over 30 countries are observing Global Day of Action on McDonald’s on 6th June, 2013.  McDonald’s agents recruit low-wage temporary workers from developing countries to come to work in McDonald’s franchises in the United States. These international subcontracted workers from Asia and Latina America reported that they paid $3,000 to $4,000 apiece to participate in the U.S. State Department’s J-1 student guestworker program, expecting decent work and a cultural exchange. Instead, McDonald’s used them as a sub-minimum wage captive workforce. Workers faced:

  • Threats of deportation by McDonald’s franchise management
  • As few as four hours of work a week at $7.25 an hour, with exorbitant housing deductions that brought their net pay far below minimum wage
  • Shifts as long as 25 hours with no overtime pay
  • Being packed into employer-owned basement housing, up to eight students to a room, for $300 each per month
  • Retaliation by the McDonald’s franchisee and labor supplier Geovisions, including surprise home visits and cuts to work hours

Despite threats of deportation by the franchise management, these young workers bravely joined the National Guestworker Alliance (NGA), went on strike and launched a campaign to demand dignity and the freedom to organize for themselves, and for all McDonald’s workers. On March 6, temporary international workers on J-1 visas from around the world went on strike to expose severe exploitation and retaliation at McDonald’s restaurants in the United States. They joined U.S. workers and union leaders in demanding that the fast food giant take responsibility for labor abuse at its restaurants—and their fight reached the pages of Wall Street JournalThe Nation, and NBC News.

As workers, trade unions, students, fathers, mothers, human rights organizations and community members from countries around the world where McDonald’s agents recruit international labor we are demanding an end to the abuse.

We demand that McDonald’s:

 

1.      Agree to end exploitation and retaliation of the international guestworkers recruited to work in all U.S. stores; and

 

2.      Guarantee freedom of association and the right to organize without retaliation for all of McDonald’s workers worldwide.

The AFL-CIO, the IUF and the ITUC is supporting the Global Day of Action against exploitation and retaliation at McDonald’s, coordinated by the National Guestworker Alliance (NGA) on June 6, 2013. We request you to join the protest in New Delhi in front of the McDonald’s in the C.P. (Opposite Gate No. 2 of Rajiv Chowk Metro Station) and join hands with following organizations protesting world-wide 

1.      ·American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL–CIO)  – United States

2.      ·Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) – Philippines

3.      ·Centro de Documentación en Derechos Humanos “Segundo Montes Mozo S.J.” (CSMM)

4.      ·Confédération Chrétienne des Syndicats Malgaches (SEKRIMA) – Madagascar

5.      ·Confédération Française des Travailleurs Chrétiens  (French Democratic Confederation of Labor) (CFDT) – Gilles Desbordes – France

6.      ·CNS “Cartel ALFA” – Romania

7.      ·Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions (EFIT) – Bassem Halaka – Egypt

8.      ·Health Services Workers Union of Ghana (HSWU) of TUC – Franklin Ansah – Ghana

9.      ·Independent Trade union of Miners of Ukraine – Deputy Head Anatolyi Akimochkin – Ukraine

10.  ·International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) – Jeroen Beirnaert – Brazil

11.  ·International Union of Food workers (IUF) – General Secretary Ron Oswald – Switzerland

12.  ·International Union of Food workers (IUF) – Vijay Hiremath – India

13.  ·International Union of Food workers – 식품 농업 호텔 요식 캐터링서비스 관광 연초 및 유사산업 국제노동조합연 (Hotel Food and Agriculture Hospitality and Catering services) (IUF Korea) – South Korea

14.  ·IUF Thailand: Cuisine and Service Workers Union and the Cook and Servers Workers Union of Thailand – Thailand

15.  ·IUF Poultry Workers’ Rights Network – Thailand

16.  ·Federation of Hotel, Restaurant, Plaza, Apartment, Catering and Tourism Workers’ Free Union (FSPM)/IUF – Indonesia

17.  ·Federación Nacional de Trabajadores en Industrias de la Alimentación, Hoteles, Bebidas, Tabaco y Afines (FENTIAHBETA) – Dominican Republic

18.  ·Pakistan Hotel, Restaurant, Clubs, Tourism, Catering and Allied Workers (PHRCTCAWF)/IUF – Pakistan

19.  ·International Union of Food workers Hong Kong Catering & Hotels Industries Employees General Union (CHIEGU)/IUF

20.  ·Justicia for Migrant Workers (J4MW) – Canada

21.  ·Jobs with Justice/American Rights at Work (United States)

22.  ·Kommunistinen Nuorisoliitto KomNL (The Finnish Communist Youth Alliance) – Simo Suominen – Finland

23.  ·La Confédération générale des travailleurs de Mauritanie (CGTM) General Confederation of Mauritanian Workers – Mauritania

24.  ·La Confederación Paraguaya de Trabajadores C.P.T – Presidente FRANCISCO BRITEZ RUIZ – Paraguay

25.  ·La Fédération Générale du Travail de Belgique (FGTB HORVAL) (General Federation of Labor) – Yves Demeuse       – Belgium

26.  ·La Plataforma Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, Democracia y Desarrollo (PIDHDD) – Ecuador

27.  ·Le Bureau National de l’Association Malienne des Expulsés ( AME) – President Ousmane Diarra – Mali

28.  ·Migrant Rights Centre Ireland (MRCI)  – Ireland

29.  ·New Trade Union Initiative  (NTUI) – General Secretary Ashim Roy – India

30.  ·National Union of Workers in Hotel, Restaurant and Allied Industries (NUWHRAIN) – Philippines

31.  ·National Day Labor Organizing Network (NDLON) – United States

32.  ·National Guestworker Alliance – Argentina – Malaysia – Mongolia – Romania – Poland – Turkey

33.  ·Proyetco de Derechos Economicos Sociales y Culturales (Project for Economic Social and Cultural Rights) (ProDESC) – Alejandra Ancheita – Mexico

34.  ·Restaurant Opportunities Center – United States

35.  ·Services Industrial Professional and Technical Union – Ireland

36.  ·SEEB – SP – Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT) (Unified Workers’ Central) -Rita Berlofa – Brazil

37.  ·Sindicato dos Trabalhadores em Gastronomia e Hospedagem de São Paulo e Região (SINTHORESP) (Trade Union of Workers in Lodging and Dining in Presidente Prudente and Region) – Brazil

38.  ·Socialist union of Youth / SZM Slovakia – Chairman Miroslav Pomajdík – Slovakia

39.  ·Society for Labor and Development (SLD) – India

40.  ·UITA (SIREL), Uruguay (International Union of Food workers) – Patricia Iglesias Aguirre – Uruguay

41.  ·Unite the Union – Jennie Formby – Great Britain

42.  ·Unite Union – Mike Treen – New Zealand

43.  ·United Worker Congress – United States

44.  ·Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft (Ver.di) (United Services Union) – Jeffrey Raffo – Germany

45.  ·Workers Organizing Committee of Chicago – United States

46.  ·Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) – Zimbabwe

47.  ·Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy Associations (ZCIEA) – Zimbabwe

We hope you can add your country and organisation to this list or join the already planned action.

Thank you!  

In solidarity,

Parimal Maya Sudhakar

+91-8800241099

Project Coordinator – Migration

Society for Labour and Development

New delhi