John Williams, Unite hospitality member
The McDonald’s sexual harassment scandal is back in the news again. Investigations two years ago revealed widespread sexual abuse and harassment of many teenage workers. A group of five trade union bodies, including the bakers’ union (BFAWU) and the TUC (Trades Union Congress) have said that McDonald’s had violated international labour standards and submitted a complaint to the UK National Contact Point (NCP) – a semi-independent government body – in a serious escalation.
After the initial BBC investigation and coverage, the company promised to sort things. But since then, the BBC has received more than 160 complaints, and the Equality and Human Rights Commission over 700! Unions put in their complaint to the NCP that this is “further evidence of persistent, deeply rooted gender-based discrimination.” Bosses have said more training will be done, which is welcome, but how will workers make sure that this is acted on and the rot cut out?
Ian Hodson, president of the bakers’ union called the allegations “horrific” and said: “The most important thing to me is the workers. Their voices need to be heard. Everyone deserves the right to be safe when they go to work”. Absolutely. And a horrifying detail, is that most of the allegations are coming from teenagers. The appalling behaviour they’ve had to endure will be, for many of them, their very first experience of life in the workplace. The stress, anxiety and mental health struggles many of them probably have or will develop is truly upsetting to think about.
Unions and workers should be at the heart and centre of any investigation into the allegations and decide the measures that need to be taken. No stitch ups! Far too often have voices of trade unionists been ignored and swept aside by bosses thinking they can control the narrative. That’s why many workers feel powerless. Especially as the company makes profit and relies on their labour in exchange for low pay, making them feel like small cogs in a machine.
The Labour government is now offering to negotiate between employers and unions. But how on Earth can we trust this Labour government to fight for the material interests of precarious workers? They’ve U-turned on their workers’ rights pledges, including protections from sackings from day one, and will now allow some zero-hour contracts.
The best way to tackle sexual harassment in the workplace is for all workers to join fighting trade unions where they can collectively take on the issue, removing perpetrators and bad managers. It should be the organised working class that come up with the necessary processes to keep workers safe. Unions should be willing to escalate to further action if necessary, such as protests and strike action if workers continue to be made unsafe, as they did in 2017 when McDonald’s workers went out on strike against low pay and bad working conditions.
- John is standing for the LGBT+ seat in the Unite Executive Council elections as part of the ‘Workers Unite’ slate, see here for more information
