September 3, 2014
By Neal Tepel, LaborPress Editorial
New York, NY – A McDonald’s maintenance worker Jose Carillo, perhaps the oldest worker fighting for $15 and the right to form a union without retaliation, was profiled last week in the New York Daily News. The 81-year-old, who makes $8.10 an hour, has participated in every single fast-food worker strike in New York City, including the first-ever strike in November 2012. He told the paper that he is willing to do whatever it takes to win because, as he says, “What I make is not enough; the cost of living keeps rising.”
As the Wall Street Journal reported, the loss of “millennial” customers is a big reason for McDonald’s slumping sales – the worst month-to-month decline in global same-store sales since 2003. This is just the latest trouble for McDonalds as it grapples with the NLRB ruling that labels the parent company a co-employer.
The NLRB general counsel’s determination that McDonald’s shares responsibility for all its franchisee workers has made it harder for this hugh fast-food corporation to pretend workers are only employees of their franchisees. It's clear that McDonald’s will be under the gun as the government requires fast-food companies to take responsibility for the employees that work for their franchisees.
