In recent years, the company has been hit by its own #MeToo movement. Last year, McDonald’s UK and Ireland chief executive Alistair McCraw told a parliamentary committee that the company had received 407 complaints “of all kinds”, of which 157 were thoroughly investigated and 17 He said the matter was classified as sexual harassment. He said: “The incidents are absolutely egregious and I want to be clear that we will tackle them and ensure we do everything we can to eradicate them from our business. there is no.”
There have been protests over the chain’s environmental impact, concerns about obesity and poor health, and strikes over low wages.
But the chain also does good things, like raising billions of dollars for charity and paying millions of dollars for employees to attend college.
For better or worse
A few summers ago, I worked at McDonald’s in Clapham High Street, as well as in Badenoch and Harris, south London, to earn some cash during a long break from university.
A few weeks later, I realized that a strange form of apartheid was emerging. Young, white, female flight attendants are relegated to the registers, while older men and ethnic minority crew members are left exhausted behind the scenes.
But there was compassion. Seniors knew they could come here, get a free hot drink, and stay as long as they wanted. This is a plan that many franchises around the world continue to this day without much fanfare.
