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    Lazy Llama

Why do you want to shut down McDonalds?

hash tag said:
Industrial relations upset in Mac's; shame. McDonald's could face first UK strikes - BBC News
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Good for the workers. And fuck MacD's twisting.

Fast-food company McDonald's could face its first staff strike in the UK, after workers at two stores backed a call for industrial action.

Employees at McDonald's restaurants in Cambridge and Crayford, near London, voted overwhelmingly for a strike.

The Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) said staff wanted secure working hours and a £10 per hour wage.

A spokesman for McDonald's said the fast-food company "works hard to ensure teams are treated fairly".

"We can confirm that, following a ballot process, the BFAWU have indicated that a small number of our employees representing less than 0.01% of our workforce are intending to strike in two of our restaurants.

"As per the terms of the ballot, the dispute is solely related to our internal grievance procedures."

Rebecca Long-Bailey, shadow secretary for business, environment and industrial strategy, said: "The strike at McDonald's is motivated by working people coming together to fight for decent pay and working conditions."
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UnderAnOpenSky said:
Sadly they can probably just ignore them :(
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It's a tricky one for McDs. They can't submit to £10 an hour as that will cost them tens of millions across the country and doing much else is going to be shit public relations. I think you're right. For a strike to be effective it needs to cause inconvenience or disruption, or cost someone significant money. This one fails all of those. They'll just leave these stores closed until the strikers have to get other jobs, then restaff them with other people. They're not short of people who will work for them and they can play the waiting game for ever.
 
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Spymaster said:
It's a tricky one for McDs. They can't submit to £10 an hour as that will cost them tens of millions across the country and doing much else is going to be shit public relations. I think you're right. For a strike to be effective it needs to cause inconvenience or disruption, or cost someone significant money. This one fails all of those. They'll just leave these stores closed until the strikers have to get other jobs, then restaff them with other people. They're not short of people who will work for them and they can play the waiting game for ever.
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McDonalds has to pay minimum wage. In Ontario, Canada, minimum pay is $11.40 an hour . It will increase to $11.60 in October, up again to $14 on Jan. 1, 2018, and $15 by 2019.
 
spring-peeper said:
McDonalds has to pay minimum wage. In Ontario, Canada, minimum pay is $11.40 an hour . It will increase to $11.60 in October, up again to $14 on Jan. 1, 2018, and $15 by 2019.
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They have to pay minimum wage here too:
The rates from 1 April 2017 are:
  • £7.50 per hour - 25 yrs old and over
  • £7.05 per hour - 21-24 yrs old
  • £5.60 per hour - 18-20 yrs old
  • £4.05 per hour - 16-17 yrs old
  • £3.50 for apprentices under 19 or 19 or over who are in the first year of apprenticeship.
Click to expand...
 
Spymaster said:
It's a tricky one for McDs. They can't submit to £10 an hour as that will cost them tens of millions across the country and doing much else is going to be shit public relations. I think you're right. For a strike to be effective it needs to cause inconvenience or disruption, or cost someone significant money. This one fails all of those. They'll just leave these stores closed until the strikers have to get other jobs, then restaff them with other people. They're not short of people who will work for them and they can play the waiting game for ever.
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They could very easily submit to £10 an hour. They don't want to and won't if they don't have to, but that's not the same as can't.
 
uk profits c.200million a year. 80-odd thousand staff. Back of an envelope figure would be at least £2k a year per staff member that they could very easily hand over without adding a single penny to the price of anything. A lot of them are part-time, so that's a very conservative figure for a full-time staff member.
 
littlebabyjesus said:
uk profits c.200million a year. 80-odd thousand staff. Back of an envelope figure would be at least £2k a year per staff member that they could very easily hand over without adding a single penny to the price of anything.
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So your point is that they could pay all their staff more by redistributing more of their profits? :hmm:
 
Spymaster said:
So your point is that they could pay all their staff more by redistributing more of their profits? :hmm:
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Not quite, my point is that they could pay their staff a lot more without changing their (very successful) business model at all, and that they would have to if workers in the UK weren't in such a weak bargaining position. They exploit because they can, and the level of their profits is a decent way to put numbers on the rate of that exploitation.

So not so much redistributing the profits as not being allowed to get away with taking those profits in the first place.

No doubt they would claim that their rates are competitive.
 
littlebabyjesus said:
No doubt they would claim that their rates are competitive.
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Well quite, and with good reason given that they'll be in line with BK, Wimpy, Subway, et al, all of whom are probably paying as close to minimum wage as possible.

For that to change though, an action would have to be on an industry sector basis, not just a couple of ignorable outlets of one player.
 
Spymaster said:
Well quite, and with good reason given that they'll be in line with BK, Wimpy, Subway, et al, all of whom are probably paying as close to minimum wage as possible.

For that to change though, an action would have to be on an industry sector basis, not just a couple of ignorable outlets of one player.
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Yep. Not saying it's about to happen, although this is some kind of start.

Anyway, we appear to be furiously agreeing. I was just looking at how easily mcds could up their wages to 10 quid an hour tomorrow if they were forced to. The answer is 'very easily'.
 
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littlebabyjesus said:
Yep. Not saying it's about to happen, although this is some kind of start.

Anyway, we appear to be furiously agreeing. I was just looking at how easily mcds could up their wages to 10 quid an hour tomorrow if they were forced to. The answer is 'very easily'.
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Sure. As I said on the other thread, they could go much further than £10 an hour. They just won't. There's nothing compelling them to do so and this action won't change that.

It's a fly landing on an elephants arse.
 
littlebabyjesus said:
uk profits c.200million a year. 80-odd thousand staff. Back of an envelope figure would be at least £2k a year per staff member that they could very easily hand over without adding a single penny to the price of anything. A lot of them are part-time, so that's a very conservative figure for a full-time staff member.
Click to expand...

Its all well and done saying they employ 80,000 odd people, BUT, the majority are on zero hours contracts
 
littlebabyjesus said:
uk profits c.200million a year. 80-odd thousand staff. Back of an envelope figure would be at least £2k a year per staff member that they could very easily hand over without adding a single penny to the price of anything. A lot of them are part-time, so that's a very conservative figure for a full-time staff member.
Click to expand...
But that assumes they would operate at zero profit. Why would a company operate at zero profit?
 
If that story is true, that's pretty foul. Possibly a nasty shop manager. Possibly a workplace culture of "do it by the book, always". :rolleyes:. Even so, it's shocking not to give the fire brigade drinks and indeed all things they might want.
 
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