(London) More than a hundred McDonald’s employees in the United Kingdom say they have been victims of sexual assault or harassment or racism within the American fast food chain, says the BBC on Tuesday, the latest case to date of a wave of scandals in the country.
“Employees as young as 17 years old are having their bodies touched without consent, and are being harassed almost daily,” writes the BBC on its website, according to testimonies collected.
The UK Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has said it is “worried to hear these new accusations of sexual and racial harassment”, and is operating a “red line to report incidents of harassment at McDonald’s”. , according to a statement on Tuesday.
The fast-food giant had already faced charges four years ago, when the Bakery and Food Workers Union (BFAWU) claimed that more than 1,000 employees said they were victims of sexual harassment and harassment. ill-treatment in their workplace.
“McDonald’s has made legally binding commitments that we will verify, including communicating its zero-tolerance approach to sexual harassment and conducting anonymous workplace safety surveys of its employees. “, emphasizes the Commission.
A Downing Street spokesperson called the BBC revelations “very concerning”, urging McDonald’s to treat the accusations “very seriously”.
Former employee Shelby, who was just 16 when she started working at McDonald’s last year, told the BBC that she was constantly touched inappropriately and unwanted by older male employees in the kitchen, one of them grabbing her from behind and pressing against him, among other incidents.
She complained to management, but nothing was done, and she eventually quit, describing in her leaving letter a “toxic work environment.” “Why do we have to go to work with fear in our stomachs? asks Shelby in an interview with the BBC.
McDonald’s and the BFAWU union were not immediately reachable to respond to AFP requests for comment.
Contacted by the BBC, McDonald’s UK and Ireland chief executive Alistair Macrow apologized to the group for “clear failings” in protecting employees at work.
The fast food chain has 177,000 employees in the UK, the majority of whom are very young or even teenagers.
Two years ago, a collective of employees and former employees of McDonald’s denounced a policy of “systemic” sexist discrimination within the brand in France, with dozens of testimonies describing sexual harassment and a corporate culture ” harmful”.
The group’s ex-boss worldwide, Steve Easterbook, was fired at the end of 2019 for having an intimate relationship with an employee, in violation of the group’s internal regulations.
In 2020, after the accusations of another employee, McDonald’s had established that the leader had hidden affairs with several members of staff and that he had lied about the real nature of his relationship made public.
In recent months, accusations of sexual assault and rape within the British employers’ federation CBI have emerged in the UK in the corporate world, of sexual assaults against the ex-chairman of the board of directors of Tesco , investor Crispin Odey or even a former journalist from the Guardian.