McDonalds workers protest

McDonald’s Workers and Trump Resistance to Jointly Declare: “This Greed Must End”

The Golden Arches represent "the Donald Trump of corporations," activists and workers say

May 22, 2017 | Source: Common Dreams | by Deirdre Fulton

Describing McDonald’s as “the Donald Trump of corporations,” workers and leaders in the Trump resistance movement are joining forces for a massive protest against the fast food giant this week.

“Like Trump, McDonald’s faces widespread charges of stealing from workers’ paychecks, sexually harassing women, ripping off taxpayers, and firing people for speaking out,” groups said in a press statement. Over two days of action, the statement said, “workers and leaders from across the progressive movement will stress that resistance to Trump’s agenda must include resistance to companies like McDonald’s.”

The demonstration, billed by Fight for $15 as “the biggest protest ever” to hit the burger franchise, kicks off Tuesday with a march from Chicago’s Trump Tower to the city’s flagship Rock N Roll McDonald’s. Organized by the minimum wage campaign in conjunction with major anti-Trump groups like the Women’s March, MoveOn.org, Movement for Black Lives, Our Revolution, Indivisible Chicago, Cosecha, and the Sierra Club, the March on McDonald’s reflects that out-of-control corporate power, as facilitated by the Trump administration, is “not only [a] worker’s issue, but…an immigrant, racial, women, LGBTQ, and environmental issue.”

As Carmen Perez, a co-chair of the Women’s March put it: “Labor rights are women’s rights. The link between the gender justice and labor justice movements is strong—but often unacknowledged. Women’s March is proud to join Fight for $15 and others to rise up against unfair labor practices, economic exploitation, and workplace sexual harassment.”

“These fights are our fights,” she said, “and the only way we win is together.”

“We cannot allow corporations like McDonald’s to continue violating basic workers’ rights to boost profits,” added Larry Cohen, board chair of Our Revolution. “Women and men who work 40 hours a week continue to face poverty. McDonald’s continues to stand on the wrong side of worker’s rights by opposing minimum wage increases, paid sick leave, and fair scheduling. We’re marching to tell McDonald’s and other multinational corporations: this greed must end.”