Staffing
McDonald's workers strike, company increases diversity efforts
May 20, 2021
As McDonald's workers in 14 cities went out on strike Wednesday to demand a $15 minimum wage, the brand's corporate office is launching an initiative to increase investment in diverse businesses that help the brand tell its story.
Employees held protests outside the QSR's headquarters in Chicago, where shareholders met for their annual gathering today. Protests were also held in:
• Detroit.
• Fayetteville.
• Flint.
• Houston.
• Kansas City.
• Los Angeles.
• Miami.
• Milwaukee.
• Oakland.
• Orlando.
• Raleigh-Durham.
• Saint Louis.
• San Francisco.
McDonald's recently said it raised wages at its corporate-owned stores (about 5% of the brand's U.S. stores) to $11 per hour for entry-level works and to at least $15 per hour for shift managers — a lift of 10%. The federal minimum wage has been left at $7.25 per hour since its last increase in 2014.
McDonald's told QSRweb, however, that it's the federal and local governments responsibility to establish the minimum wage, though the company was "open to dialogue so that any changes meet the needs of thousands of hardworking restaurant employees and the 2,000 McDonald's independent owner/operators who run small businesses."
At McDonald's corporate level this week, the brand said over the next four years, the company and franchisees will hasten the pace on putting more ad dollars into the hands of "diverse-owned" media companies, production houses and content creators.
It said its investments with Black, Hispanic, Asian Pacific American, women and LGBTQ-owned platforms will more than double, from 4% to 10%, of McDonald's national advertising spend between 2021 and 2024. Spend with Black-owned properties, specifically, will increase from 2% to 5% of national advertising spend over this time period, according to a news release.
Additionally, McDonald's will form partnerships with diverse-owned media companies with longer-term funding to bolster individual businesses, strengthen the broader marketing supply chain, and support inclusive storytelling between McDonald's brand and diverse customers.
"As a Black female entrepreneur, I am proud to be a part of McDonald's continued effort to meet Women and diverse-owned businesses where they are by providing much-needed resources to do business in an ever-evolving marketplace," Vicki Chancellor, McDonald's USA franchisee marketing committee chair, said in the release. "It's who we are as a leading brand that is doing our part to help underserved communities thrive."
McDonald's has14,000 U.S. restaurants and is based in Chicago.
