A food worker’s union and leading workplace injury law firm have launched a new campaign to support members who have been burned while working at McDonald’s restaurants in the UK.
Thompsons Solicitors and the Bakers’, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) set up the McBurned campaign following a global trend of McDonald’s staff suffering similar burn injuries.
The campaign seeks to support the 115,000 McDonald’s employees in the UK, who the union says are worried about reporting burn incidents and other injuries for fear of how their employers will treat them if they do.
Fast food workers who have reported being burned often believe that their injuries are ‘part and parcel’ of the job and something they should simply tolerate because of the quick turnaround times they are expected to work within. The McBurned campaign aims to change this perception.
Ian Hodson, National President of the BFAWU said: “With the support of Thompsons Solicitors, we intend to confront McDonald’s head on about the clear pattern we’re seeing of workplace burns. These aren’t one-offs in one restaurant but something that is happening across all of McDonald’s franchises. We will not stand by while our members get #McBurned.
“Last year, the BFAWU successfully organised a series of UK-wide #McStrikes challenging low wages and use of zero hour contracts. Our ongoing Fast Food Rights campaign continues to turn up the heat on fast food giants – we now need workers to come forward in confidence to help us identify burns accident rates, the similarity of all the burns across all restaurants and injury ‘hot spots’. We intend to expose and prevent these injuries continuing to occur in the UK.”
Tom Jones, head of policy at Thompsons Solicitors who are collaborating with the BFAWU on this campaign said: “Considering its global reach and the substantial workforce McDonald’s is responsible for, it is disgraceful to see the volume of burns, almost all in similar places on workers’ bodies and the lack of any effective action from the company.
“If you have been burned while working at McDonald’s, we urge you to speak up – confidentially – and to consider making a personal injury claim. By doing so, you’ll add to the campaign to stop burn incidents rather than their being seeing as ‘just part of the job’. We are working with the BFAWU to prevent this from happening to other workers in the future.”
You can read more about the campaign in this factsheet.
More information is available and you can contact Thompsons Solicitors here.
Fast Food Rights 