“McDonald’s, McDonald’s – you can’t hide,” they chanted. “We can see your greedy side.”
The protest was organized by the “Fight for $15,” a campaign funded by the Service Employees International Union that has been pushing to lift wages, and has been pressuring McDonald’s since 2012.
The protesters delivered a letter urging the company ahead of its annual shareholder meeting Thursday.
“We are cooks and cashiers who work behind the company’s counters, grills and fryers across the country,” the letter said. “And we are calling on McDonald’s to use its massive power and wealth to lift up people of color and our communities rather than keep us locked in poverty.”
The letter said that low pay disproportionately hurt employees of color, citing the National Employment Law Project, an advocacy group, which says that 54 percent of black workers and 60 percent of Hispanic workers nationwide earn less than $15 hourly, compared to 36 percent of white workers.
McDonald’s said in a statement that the chain will invest $150 million over the next five years into helping employees play for college tuition.
“We also lowered eligibility requirements, making the program more accessible,” spokesperson Terri Hickey said in an email. “These enhancements underscore McDonald’s and its independent franchisees’ commitment to providing jobs that fit around the lives of restaurant employees so they may pursue their education and career ambitions.”
In 2015, McDonald’s pledged to pay all employees at the roughly 1,500 stores it directly controls in the United States at least $1 an hour above the local minimum wage. (The raises were a one-time deal.)
But most of the approximately 14,000 stores in the country are run by franchisees who were not bound by that decision.