ACLU, Fight for $15, SEIU, Poor People’s Campaign, and Fast Food Workers Ramp Up Campaign for Paid Leave at McDonald’s Ahead of Shareholder Meeting

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Fight for $15 (FF15), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and Poor People’s Campaign are hosting a livestream picket line and rally on Wednesday, May 20, at 1 p.m. ET. The livestream will be held in advance of the McDonald’s shareholder meeting on Thursday, May 21 to urge the company to provide paid sick leave and family leave for all of its employees, in both corporate and franchise restaurants. The virtual picket line will kick off with a livestream of McDonald’s worker walkouts in cities across the U.S. and follow with a rally featuring a number of speakers, including McDonald’s workers, who will share their own stories of working during a pandemic without access to paid sick days and family leave and speakers across a number of organizations.

The digital protest is just one of the tactics the ACLU and a coalition of organizations are utilizing to ramp up pressure on McDonald’s for paid leave. Today, the ACLU, along with 12 coalition partners, sent a public letter to McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski requesting a meeting with the company to discuss a paid leave policy that will protect all of its employees. The ACLU and partners have collected more than 100,000 signatures to date in support. The ACLU also launched today paid media efforts to raise awareness on these issues, including a mobile billboard truck that will run from May 19 through May 21 in Chicago, digital ads gathering additional petition signatures, and a homepage takeover in the Chicago Tribune on May 21st.

Below is a comment from Nicole Regalado, deputy director in the ACLU’s National Political Advocacy Department:

“McDonald’s is endangering the lives of its workforce and our communities by refusing to give all employees paid sick days and family and medical leave. This is a civil liberties issue: McDonald’s employees — a majority of whom are women and people of color who are more at risk from COVID-19 due to gender and racial disparities in access to healthcare among other factors — are still showing up to work everyday, even when they’re feeling sick. No one should be forced to choose between their health and their job. We won’t stop fighting until McDonald’s gives all of its employees — in corporate and franchised restaurants — paid sick and family and medical leave.”

WHAT:

The ACLU, Fight for $15, SEIU, and Poor People’s Campaign are hosting a livestream picket line and rally in advance of the McDonald’s shareholder meeting on Thursday, May 21, to urge the company to ensure paid sick leave and family leave for all of its employees, in both corporate and franchise restaurants.

WHO:

Virtual Rally speakers include:

Moderator Fran Marion, Shift Manager, McDonald’s, Kansas City, MO

Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, of the Poor People’s Campaign

Mary Kay Henry, President of SEIU

David Michaels, public health official and former Head of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

Erika Moritsugu, Vice President for Economic Justice of National Partnership for Women and Families

Nicole Regalado, deputy director in the ACLU’s National Political Advocacy Department

WHEN:

Wednesday, May 20, 1 p.m. EST

WHERE:

ACLU Twitter Livestream

ACLU Facebook Livestream

A blog on the ACLU’s McDonald’s campaign can be found here: https://www.aclu.org/news/racial-justice/mcdonalds-employees-are-working-through-the-covid-19-pandemic-so-why-dont-they-have-access-to-paid-sick-and-family-leave/

The ACLU’s letter to McDonald’s CEO can be found here: https://www.aclu.org/aclu-letter-mcdonalds