McDonald’s Fights Back Against Wage Protests

The fast-food chain has released a series of videos on the theme “America’s best first job.”

December 02, 2016

OAK BROOK, Ill. – With more rallies this week for a $15 an hour minimum wage, McDonald’s—often targeted by wage activists—has begun a countermovement. Last week, the fast-food chain started releasing videos featuring workers talking about job perks, PR Week reports. The Fight for $15 movement turned four this week and celebrated its anniversary with a series of rallies across the country.

Under the tagline “Committed to being America’s best first job,” the McDonald’s videos highlighted college students who appreciate the flexible hours, employees taking advantage of tuition assistance programs, and the opportunities presented by the company to its workers. McDonald’s promoted the videos via Twitter. While the federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, McDonald’s employees earn $9.90 per hour on average.

Meanwhile, McDonald’s also announced recently that it would be installing self-service kiosks at all of its 14,000 U.S. locations. McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook has said publicly that the chain has no plans to slash jobs because of the touchscreen kiosks. “We’ve not cutting crew; we’re redeploying them,” he said, pointing to the chain’s expansion of table service as an example.

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