A UNION-backed group is seeking to hold McDonald’s Corporation accountable under federal rules for worker-safety violations at its franchised restaurants, expanding a continuing labor effort to reduce historical protections for companies operating under franchise arrangements.
The group, Fast Food Forward, backed by the Service Employees International Union, announced Monday a series of complaints it has filed to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) alleging violations by 19 McDonald’s franchisees and nine McDonald’s Corp.-owned stores. The group has already prepared a detailed legal argument that it hopes will persuade OSHA to cite McDonald’s for violations that OSHA might find at independently owned restaurants. The argument will be presented to OSHA within the next few weeks.
“OSHA looks at which company has some control over the working conditions, and certainly McDonald’s does in many of these franchises,” said Mary Vogel, executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, adding that Fast Food Forward’s theory is similar to one OSHA uses to hold multiple employers responsible in temp-worker circumstances.
The national council, which advocates for workplace safety, has helped to advise the fast food workers’ campaign.
Such an action would still likely be unprecedented, however, as experts believe that corporate entities haven’t been cited for violations in the past.
McDonald’s released a statement saying that the company and its franchisees are “committed to providing safe working conditions, and will review the allegations.”
“Until we perform the investigations, we can’t know whether there are violations, much less whether it’s appropriate to cite the franchiser as well as the franchisee,” said an OSHA spokeswoman.
The attempt to shift more responsibility for workplace safety to the corporate level is part of a larger effort by Fast Food Forward’s group, which has long been helping organize fast-food workers’ protests for higher wages and better workplace conditions. The efforts have so far mainly included a series of claims to the National Labor Relations Board, seeking to hold McDonald’s Corp. and other companies jointly accountable for labor violations at their franchisees.
One worker at a New Orleans store complained to OSHA that he or she “got burned when cooking on the grill almost every shift.”
“Grease pops up from the seasoning on the grill, and it burns my hands and arms,” the anonymous worker wrote. “We have no protective equipment to keep us from getting burned.”
Other written statements claimed employees felt pressure to work faster, which contributes to safety problems, and that many stores lack proper protective gear, well-equipped first aid kits, and procedural safety training.
The complaint on Monday, March 16 announced by the growing number of laborers is part of a larger strategy by Fast Food Forward to win fast food employees a $15 hourly minimum wage, including the right to form a union without retribution. The union-backed group has already helped organize protests at McDonald’s and other fast-food chains, and filed a high-profile lawsuit for alleged wrongful termination at several McDonald’s locations in Virginia.
(With reports from Wall Street Journal)
(www.asianjournal.com)
(LA Midweek March 18-20, 2015 Sec. B pg.1)
