Salon.com > McDonald's

200 take part in largest strike in fast food history

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 22:48:00 +0000

As Josh Eidelson reported on Salon early Thursday, "New York City fast food workers walked off the job, launching a rare strike against a nearly union-free industry."

Reports from organizers rallying in Times Square in support of the strike suggest that as many as 200 workers walked out Thursday to demand fair wages. The Huffington Post noted that employees, the majority from McDonald's around the city, continued to walk off the job throughout the day, making official strike numbers difficult to confirm. "At a McDonald’s on Madison Avenue at 6:30 am, 16 workers picketed. According to Raymond Lopez, one of the 16, that was almost half of the store’s total workforce of 40 people," HuffPo noted.

Radio Dispatch host John Knefel and writer Jesse Myerson, both reporting from the Times Square rally, posted the comments and chants of some one-day strikers on Twitter:

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Vacation from hell

Tue, 02 Oct 2012 21:40:00 +0000

Mikhail Sebastian’s trip to American Samoa redefines the term nightmare vacation.

Instead of a five-day holiday to the lush, tropical US territory in the South Pacific, the 39-year-old has spent more than nine brutal months there caught in an immigration law hell. Experts agree it’s an unprecedented illustration of America’s broken immigration system.

The key sticking point: Though he’s lived legally in Houston and the Los Angeles area for years under a special arrangement with the Department of Homeland Security, Sebastian is stateless, with no citizenship at all. The federal government argues that during his vacation he “self-deported” from the United States — despite the fact that American Samoa is a US territory.

Now the part-time travel agent and barista is stuck on the 76-square-mile island as federal and local officials hash out what to do with him. Though the local government is putting him up with a local family and giving him a $50 weekly allowance, Sebastian can’t work under American Samoan laws and can’t travel off the island.

Brainwashed by junk food

Fri, 28 Sep 2012 12:50:00 +0000

Do your children light up when they see those golden arches?

Well, they’re surely not alone. A new study released this week showed that brain activity in areas connected to rewards and appetite control increased in children when they were shown well-known fast food logos.

Researchers from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the University of Kansas Medical Center showed children, ages 10-14, 120 popular company logos — 60 food and 60 non-food logos. During this process, researchers used MRI technology to scan the children’s brains and monitor their activity. The study found that fast-food logos triggered an increase in brain activity compared to the non-food logos.

Researcher Dr. Amanda Bruce said that while viewing fast food logos, the children’s increased brain activity was not that much different than when the children saw actual food. She said children’s interest and familiarity with food logos is “concerning,” as the logos are marketing food that is unhealthy.

Corporate America’s newest union insult

Fri, 24 Aug 2012 14:51:00 +0000

Big Industrial Ag pretends to go organic. PC behemoths mimic Apple products. Barack Obama goes to the right of the Republicans on civil liberties. Mitt Romney suddenly portrays himself as a left-leaning moderate on immigration. It seems no matter the arena, the most cliched move in corporate and political combat is to co-opt an opponent’s message, expecting nobody to notice or care.

But as inured as we are to this banality, it’s still shocking to see corporate America transform the message of organized labor into a sales pitch for ... corporate America. Yes, according to the New York Times last month, that's what's happening, as new ads are “tapping into a sense of frustration among workers to sell products.”

One spot for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (read: the casinos) shows a woman climbing onto her desk to demand a vacation. Another for McDonald’s implores us to fight back against employers and “overthrow the working lunch.” Still another for a Coca-Cola subsidiary seizes on the stress of harsh working conditions to create buzz for a branded “Take the Year Off” contest.

Seven ways the IOC ruins the Olympics

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 17:57:00 +0000

The Olympics have been a lot of fun this year, what with underdog Gabby Douglas taking home the all-around gymnastics gold, the Phelps-Lochte rivalry, Rafalca Romney competing in dressage, all the great firsts for women athletes, and those wacky/wonderful opening ceremonies. But as in years past, one aspect of the games has been something of a wet blanket: the International Olympic Committee.

The IOC has plenty of necessary functions, to be sure: ensuring fair play, monitoring for discrimination and doping, and protecting athletes from “political or commercial abuse,” for instance. The group keeps order in an event that involves thousands of individual games, meets, and matches, with many thousands of people involved -- athletes, coaches, and attendees. So good on them for that.

McDonald’s at London Olympics

Thu, 12 Jul 2012 14:02:00 +0000

The London Olympics athletic competitions haven't started yet, but the corporate competition has already begun -- and America is winning. McDonald's is the only restaurant allowed to sell french fries at the London Olympics, the Guardian reported. In a deal with the International Olympic Committee, McDonald's has the sole rights to sell french fries to Olympics spectators.

But what about Fish 'n' Chips, aka french fries and fried fish, a staple of the British diet? That's still OK. McDonald's, apparently feeling a little generous, has decided to allow other caterers at the event to sell french fries, but the fries must be accompanied with fish. No one besides McDonald's can sell fries by themselves, the Guardian said.

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