McDonald’s Enrages Unions, Takes A Stand Against “Employee Free Choice Act”

• December 12, 2008

Or, if it were more accurately named, the “Keep Workers From Voting On Organizing Without Being Intimidated By Union Thugs Act.”

(Crain’s) — Two of America’s largest unions have denounced McDonald’s Corp. this week following Crain’s story that the company is mobilizing franchisees against a law designed to make it easier for workers to unionize.
The Service Employee International Union encouraged its 1.8 million members to send letters to McDonald’s in support of the proposed Employee Free Choice Act. The AFL-CIO issued a press release saying it “plans to make sure the 10 million working men and women who make up our membership know that McDonald’s has just announced a whopper of a campaign against their economic interests and against their hopes for an economy that works for all, not just for the CEOs.”
McDonald’s USA President Don Thompson urged 2,400 franchisees to “contact your U.S. senators and representatives to oppose” the Employee Free Choice Act in a Nov. 25 memo obtained by Crain’s. He also wrote that McDonald’s formed a “response team” to help franchisees “actively participate in the opposition to the EFCA.”
The EFCA, or “card-check” bill, would enable unions to organize a workplace by obtaining the signatures of a majority of workers on authorization cards. Current law requires secret ballots.

Love McDonald’s or hate McDonald’s, the unions would pretty much kill the company’s business model. People don’t go to McDonald’s because the food is especially good (though I’ll admit to having a weakness for their french fries), they go there because it’s a) fast and b) cheap.
If there’s one thing we know about unionized labor, it’s that it isn’t efficient nor is it cheap. And since payroll is the biggest part of any business’ overhead, you can bet that if McDonald’s gets unionized they’re going to be in some serious trouble.
And before anyone starts spewing nonsense about the rights of workers, let’s remember that there’s nothing stopping the unions from organizing now. Except for that pesky “secret ballot” thing which lets workers voice their opinions on organizing without being threatened by union organizers or management.
Which, of course, is exactly why the unions want to get rid of secret balloting.

Tags: Domestic Issues, Politics

http://magyartruth.blogspot.com/ Chief RZ

Glad to see someone standing up to these thugs. The only problem now is that the socialist-Obama gang will steal from the working people to pay for these union-types.
2Hotel9

First, dinothefakehomo? Democrats fought to keep slavery, and having lost that fight spent 80 years institutionalizing racism and stripping Blacks of the Rights the Civil War was fought to return to them.

Second, damnation! Guess I will have to eat at McD’s now in support of their stand against Unionthugism.
Eagle Eye

Look what people like dino,and the libtards have done to missouri, ill, mich, cali, la, ny, wash, ore. They are all going bankrupt as we speak, but they have their head so far up their arse they can’t smell poverty
Dino

Well yeah, the business model where employees make nothing is the best!

That’s why the conservatives of the time resisted ending slavery and why American capitalists are so fond of employing foreign children chained to tables to manufacture their crap.
robert108

In the days of Henry Ford yes some employers were “oppressors”…

‘
A leftie fairy tale. HF created many jobs for people, and also enabled the common people to have automobiles, which were previously only available to the wealthy. This fable was created to justify commie unionism and the accompanying violence.
di butler

In the KFC hotties defense, the guy who took the BK bath got a lot of attention for his burgeoning recording career. Myabe they will get a porno movie deal out of this?? When I fist looked at this, the page it was on had a coupon for an 8 piece meal. That’s great cross advertising!
http://sayanythingblog.com/ likwidshoe

Notice that the union supporters can’t support their own positions. They must instead lie about ours.

Very telling…
Dino

Oh look, Clara. The brainstems can’t debate so they attack.

Welder, be glad you’re in a union so you can make enough money to support your family.

Now, get back over to the “Illinois is for Criminals” thread! We’re closing in on the first impeachment of a President-elect!
http://www.bikebubba.blogspot.com/ Bike Bubba

Mike, cards are generally signed in the presence of union recruiters. Hence if a majority of people sign cards, the secret ballot has been done away with under the EFCA.

Read your own comment carefully. Your own logic disproves your claim.
Mickey

No one has a gun held to their head forcing them to work at McDonalds. With the exception of the owner and a manager assistant all of the other workers are entry level student age employees or retired folks making a few bucks.

Our resident Marxist-Leninist, walking spastic colon, revolution poser Che”dino” Guevara most likely couldn’t get hired to flip burgers at any drive in, nor would they want him.
http://sayanythingblog.com/ likwidshoe

Mike L DFW – Get a grip folks, it’s because of unions that we have a 40 hour work week, paid vacations, health care, and benefits.

Oh, so the unions pay for that?

Get a grip, Mike.

The purpose of a union is obsolete in this country.

Unions can’t negotiate contracts that companies can’t afford, it wouldn’t pay for the customers, employees, or the company.

And yet that is EXACTLY what happened at GM.

Get a grip on reality, Mike.
robert108

Imagine that; free people making free choices(McDonald’s)!
Jerry

Not addressed to Dino
However, I find it very telling that he’d be the first to post here. And, immidiately begin attacking conservatives and capitolists, spewing negativity.
With no coherent argument to support his position at all.
Dino’s motivation for posting here is all too obvious.

As far as unions are concerned, look what they’ve done for Detroit.
Hungry Bear

Maybe dino “works for a utility”.

Given his fairmindedness and openmindedness, I just assumed that he was a laid of NY Times reporter.
Onslaught

No, I believe he Services utility workers.
Services being the operative word.
robert108

They look pretty good to me, but I’ll admit my standards aren’t the highest.

Slutty women rule.
Hungry Bear

What about those KFC hotties?!

They look pretty good to me, but I’ll admit my standards aren’t the highest.
kbiel

What about those KFC hotties?!

They look to me like a rather poor excuse to go to jail.
LoadTheMule

You’ve eaten masking tape? *yuck*
robert108

Mike: Unions have long history of violence, intimidation and criminality in this country. We don’t want them. We don’t need them. They have ruined the domestic auto industry, and now are getting their greedy hands on taxpayer money in the phony “bailout”. It’s time to put the unions out of business by making them subject to antitrust laws, just like everyone else.
http://www.bikebubba.blogspot.com/ Bike Bubba

Wow, I’m just thunderstruck by the straw men Dina is arraying against “Chez Mac.” And laughing…well, given that I’ve eaten there a few too many times, it’s not coming off, but the belly laugh is certainly helping!

Dina, get a clue; the people working at Chez Mac today were more or less the same people working at the local greasy spoon when you were a kid. They are getting about the same pay and benefits now as then. The difference is that Chez Mac has done a lot more work to make the workplace safe, clean, and cheerful.

Add a union, and you’ll end up like a wheel factory a step-uncle of mine visited while working for Chevy’s quality group. Grease all over the lights, hardly able to see, and he could tell before he ever went in how bad it would be; outside was exactly the same.

Except that it would be worse, because nobody goes into a Chez Mac if the lights are shot out and the lawn isn’t mowed.
Friend of USA

A unionized McDonald would have to raise the price of its food items to cover the cost of having overpaid unionized employees – some of them would be paid do to no work at all just as GM unionized are – less people would eat at McDonalds because of hiogher prices, so eventually McDonalds would need a bailout.

In the days of Henry Ford yes some employers were “oppressors” but nowadays unions are dizzy with power and have become the oppressors.

Everything they get their hands on eventually goes bankrupt or turns to sh*t.

It is past midnight here, goodnight.
Pilgrim

Well yeah, the business model where employees make nothing is the best!

That’s why the conservatives of the time resisted ending slavery and why American capitalists are so fond of employing foreign children chained to tables to manufacture their crap.

Hmmm. Tell me. Dino, just what do you do for a living? And just what do you think is the ideal endeavor? Is there anything you actually like? Anything positive to say?

Do you actually contribute to anything? What would you like to be when you grow up? C’mon, little fella. Share. Inquiring brainstems want to know.
tom

If buying a “gut bomb” doesn’t appeal to you there is the option of buying stock in MCD as a way to support their resistance to EFCA.
welder4

I have but a few things to say Dino you are a egotistical individual who has no responsibility at all try raising a family and taking of others before you bite the hand that feeds you , you are also a pompous ass and a derelict and someday you may even have to get a job and make it on your own as Mother an Dada will not be there for you forever . You have to be all of ten years old to reply as you do.
Dino

Yeah Welder, unions are bad.

“Now give me my healthy paycheck and killer benefits”, says Welder, oblivious as most brainstems are.
robert108

He’s filth.

Reminds me of the one that claimed to work for a utility.
deadrody

So, Dino, I take it that since union membership is about 12 percent, you think only those 12 percent earn a decent wage, right ?

If not, well, then there is no correlation between union membership and decent compensation.

You may think that McDonalds doesn’t pay squat, and fine, that’s your right. But IF McDonalds workers were unionized, their pay would likely increase, and then there would undoubtedly be 1) less workers AT McDonalds, and 2) very soon afterwards, less McDonalds locations – a LOT less. And with that, less jobs overall.

So ask yourself – Is a couple dollars more per hour for people already working at a near minimum wage level job that require ZERO skills, is that worth putting thousands of others OUT of work ?

I’d also like to know why it is you think secret ballots for union votes is bad. Assume McDonalds workers right now are eager to unionize. Why haven’t they using a secret ballot ? And why would very public card check voting method be better ?
pparets

dino foams at the mouth while ranting…

That’s why the conservatives of the time resisted ending slavery and why American capitalists are so fond of employing foreign children chained to tables to manufacture their crap.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
welder4

The Toyota phenom was much later in the deal , we had to actually compete with less then a dollar an hour if the Japanese are OK with you that is fine I prefer GM cars an trucks they don’t look so foreign made. I have a car that has 200,000 miles on it it is a GM car . I also get 26 mpg and it is a semi luxury car and is in great shape . it is all in how you care for the cars . and don’t tell me about the greatness of foreign cars, I worked for a foreign concern for 4 years and they had more trouble then Gm had during the same time . I guess if you just eat fish heads an rice it is ok to own one of their cars , I am still a believer in paying a living wage . Could any one here make it on 50 cents an hour because that is what is paid in Mexico . afford a bag of rice each week, an live in a card board house off of the company property and stealing their electricity from the power lines when no one is looking .Maybe we do need to lower our standard of living to accommodate the third world countries and they will just love us to death . Buy American , if you can?
2Hotel9

What KFC hotties. And I like Churches Chicken, Mmmmmmm! chicken!
kbiel

Dino is an idiot troll who is not even worthy of the intellectual emanations from my brain stem, much less my cerebral cortex. The rest of you are too charitable.

Back on topic, I usually try to avoid McDonald’s over the protestations of four of my children. I will give in a little more often now.
http://mbacollegesinindia.blogspot.com/ MBA

I don’t think that all the articles will remain in the mind without missing a single word whichever we read. I think this article done a great job.What a best way to describe your view. Thanks for sharing with us. Really like your informative article.
Hopefully we will get more interesting topic from you in future.
Hungry Bear

No, I believe he Services utility workers.
Services being the operative word.

There’s money to be made at freeway rest stops.
2Hotel9

You do enough painting and you end up chewing some!
RebTex

What about those KFC hotties?!
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2008/12/11/2008-12-11_kentucky_fried_chicken_trio_photographed.html

“They serve fast food, but they’re slow learners.

Four months after a Burger King employee lost his job for taking a bubble bath in a restaurant sink, three scantily clad teens were fired when they turned a basin at their northern California KFC into their personal hot tub.

They landed in hot water with the chicken chain’s management when one of the bikini-clad dimwits made the same mistake as the Ohio Burger King employee – she posted photos of the dippy escapade on MySpace.

The photos included captions such as “haha KFC showers!” and “haha we turned on the jets,” and were filed under a gallery called “KFC moments,” according to the Record Searchlight newspaper in Redding, Calif….”
Mike L DFW

It’s so funny how many people commenting just move right away from the truth. The EFCA is NOT going to take away the secret ballot. If a majority (over 50%) of the workers sign a card stating that they want a union, the cards will be turned over to a neutral third party for verification. Signatures are verified and once verified, if there is still a majority, the union will be in. ONLY IF A MAJORITY sign a card. There is still an option to hold an election.

Currently, while cards are being verified and the employees are waiting for the secret election, most companies hire union busting firms to strong arm the workers. At least 1 worker is illegally fired in over 25% of all union drives to scare of the majority of the other workers. The companies use the time between card signing and verification to scare the employees off wanting a union.

If billion dollar corporations weren’t so greedy at the top and they offered decent wages, benefits, health care, and treated all employees equally fewer people would want a union at work. If the CEO’s and top management can have contracts and employment agreements, why shouldn’t the worker bees? A union contract just spells out wages, working conditions, and benefits up front so all employees know what they are entitled too, and they can’t be changed without negotiations.

Get a grip folks, it’s because of unions that we have a 40 hour work week, paid vacations, health care, and benefits. It’s because of greedy corporate management over the years that we are losing all this now and our jobs are being sent over seas. Unions can’t negotiate contracts that companies can’t afford, it wouldn’t pay for the customers, employees, or the company.

It’s not because of TOP management alone that a company survives and prospers, it’s when management and non management alike can work together and treat their customers right that a company prospers. Just because one has an MBA doesn’t necessarily mean one with an MBA is the best one for the job.
http://insanereindeer.blogspot.com/ Kenny

Dino is an idiot troll who is not even worthy of the intellectual emanations from my brain stem, much less my cerebral cortex. The rest of you are too charitable.

Agreed.

He is the guy who comes up and asks “When did you stop beating your wife?” Or, in his case “When did you stop supporting slavery?” There’s no honesty, no intelligence, no desire to even engage arguments. He just calls us all of us evil and stupid, and has masturbatory fantasies about us dying.

He’s filth.
Mickey

Our resident Marxist-Leninist, walking spastic colon, revolution poser Che “dino” Guevara is a professional.

Professional loser
robert108

Maybe dino “works for a utility”.
welder4

secret ballot is the only way to go why would any one object unless they wanted to scare people into joining the union , I am a union member and have been for all my life but this open card check is a pile of shit . Unions have grown to be nothing less or more then a money grubbing group and if they can’t get people to join fairly they have started doing it the wrong way. secret ballot tells the tale and no one should know which way one voted period . they are wrong this time and have been in the past but this is over the top ,
Friend of USA

It’s because of greedy corporate management over the years that we are losing all this now and our jobs are being sent over seas.

Funny that the fact unions forced GM to pay workers almost twice what Toyota workers get is not considered greedy by those who defend unions.
Rusty

I too routinely avoid Mickey Dees when in the market for as ‘gut bomb’.
Between the ‘Ronald McDonald House’ and this, I will re-evaluate my choices.
However, in defense of unions, I would like to point out everything the UAW has done to, I mean for, the auto industry…
http://www.evergladetrade.co.uk/glass.html Glass

Or, if it were more accurately named, the “Keep Workers From Voting On Organizing Without Being Intimidated By Union Thugs Act.”
2Hotel9

I must come down in accord with Bill The Cat, McD’s burgers taste like masking tape.
http://sayanythingblog.com robport

Well yeah, the business model where employees make nothing is the best!

They’re not making nothing. They’re being compensated adequately. If they weren’t, they’d be working somewhere else.

SayAnythingBlog.com

McDonald’s Enrages Unions, Takes A Stand Against “Employee Free Choice Act”

Create a SAB Readerblog

Recent Comments