CJC has partnered with five trade unions to call for action from McDonalds UK in response to allegations of serious and continuing violations of global labour standards on gender-based violence and harassment. As of January 2025, 700 current and former junior employees are taking legal action against McDonald’s in relation to this.
In a first-of-its kind decision for workers employed by McDonald’s UK, the Department for Business and Trade has today offered to mediate this dispute.
Click here to read the full press release about the case.
What is this process?
Under the OECD Guidelines on Business and Human Rights, countries that are signed up to the Guidelines are required to set up a National Contact Point where victims of corporate harm can submit official complaints against countries alleged not to have met the Guidelines’ standards. The Office for Responsible Business Conduct is the UK’s National Contact Point (NCP). Whilst todays offer of mediation is important, a key weakness of this process is that both the Guidelines and the complaint system are voluntary.
What is needed now?
The systemic gender-based violence and harassment at McDonald’s must end. Workers and their unions are key to ending these systemic abuses and must not be sidelined. We urge McDonalds UK to take-up this offer of mediation and come to the table for constructive dialogue. Simultaneously we continue to call on the Government to introduce legally binding rules through a Business Human Rights and Environment Act, only then can we ensure that all companies have clear obligations when it comes to the protection of workers, communities and the planet.
See further coverage of this case here.
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Press release: UK Government Offers Mediation in McDonald’s UK Sexual Harassment Complaint