BFAWU Statement on McDonald’s Labour Conference Ban and Fast-Food Campaign

Please see below statement from the Bakers’, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) in relation to the Fast-Food Rights Campaign and the Labour NEC’s decision to refuse McDonald’s a stall at Conference.

McDonald’s are coming under significant pressure. The UK’s Fast Food Rights Campaign, led by the Bakers’, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU), has been protesting outside McDonald’s restaurants and organising fast-food workers for over two years, calling for zero-hours contracts to be scrapped, a minimum wage of £10 an hour and Trade Union rights.

We congratulate the Labour Party NEC on the decision to refuse McDonald’s a stall at their Conference and our members at McDonald’s both agree with and support this decision. The Labour Party was founded by, and is still part-funded by Trade Unions and Unions and MPs right across the Labour Movement support the Fast-Food Rights Campaign. It would be nonsensical not to mention, hypocritical if the party gave stall and advertising space to a company as blatantly anti-Trade Union as McDonald’s; an organisation which utilises deplorable employment practices such as zero hours contracts, and who as it now turns out, are pretty good at avoiding paying their taxes. This isn’t a case of Labour turning up it’s nose at fast-food, or the countless people that eat at McDonald’s; this is about the principle of supporting workers and their right to be paid properly and treated with dignity. This is exactly what Labour stands for, and they should be applauded for taking this stance.

The pressure is now starting to tell, as we now see McDonald’s’ taking the decision to offer all staff contracts of 4, 16 or 30 hours a week. This hasn’t come about simply because the company has had a change of heart. The truth is that significant protest has had an impact. We will continue to fight for a £10 an hour minimum wage for all and union rights. We say to McDonald’s: if you can re-brand so much in your stores, from store layout to children’s meals, then surely you can adapt your business model, with the mega profits generated by your workforce, to recognise your workers’ Union and meet with the BFAWU now.

For more information, please contact the BFAWU’s National President, Ian Hodson on 07739326010 or email: ian.hodson@bfawu.org