McDonald’s, Wetherspoons and TGI Fridays strike: mass walkout over pay

Workers at McDonald’s, Wetherspoons and TGI Fridays are joining forces with drivers from UberEats and Deliveroo today to stage coordinated strikes over pay.

The planned industrial action - dubbed the “McStrike”, The Independent reports - is taking place in several UK cities, along with a rally in London.

The walkout is intended to highlight the issue of “poverty pay”, employment insecurity and zero-hours contracts in the UK hospitality industry.

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Workers at JD Wetherspoon, McDonald’s and TGI Fridays are demanding that their pay be increased to at least £10 an hour, while UberEats and Deliveroo couriers are fighting to secure £5 per delivery and £1 per mile as a minimum rate.

Last month, Deliveroo reduced its minimum payment per delivery from £4.26 to £3.50, the BBC reports.

Staff from all five companies will attend the rally in Leicester Square today. The strike has been timed to coincide with industrial action by fast-food workers on four continents, the news site adds.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady told the BBC’s Today programme that the strike was “small but growing”, as workers hit back at modern hospitality firms “using a very old form of exploitation”.

“We need the public and communities to support us,” she said. “We are seeing growing public concern.”

However, The Sun, says that “just 21 of McDonald’s 120,000 UK workers” are taking part in the “Corbyn-backed protest”, which the newspaper claims is part of a “hard-left plot” to shut down major restaurant chains.

Meanwhile, a McDonald’s spokesperson said: “We are disappointed to confirm that industrial action is planned in four of our 1,300 restaurants on 4 October - Cambridge, Crayford, Watford and Brixton.

“The number of people involved in this action is extremely small, and it is wrong to suggest this is a ‘fast-food shutdown’ - the restaurants will remain open as usual.

“Any suggestion that this activity is widespread and growing is not accurate. We understand that fewer of our employees are involved in industrial action than last May and fewer of our restaurants are impacted, with union support from our people diminishing.

“The numbers also represent an extremely small proportion of our workforce - in Brixton, for example, just two of our employees have been balloted for strike out of a workforce of more than 100.”

UberEats and JD Wetherspoon have defended their record, while TGI Fridays had no immediate comment.