For this debrief of the issue of « Cash Investigation » titled « Is it like that at McDonald’s? » (replay), Elise Lucet is surrounded by Zoe de Bussiere, who carried out the survey, Rebecca Khananiea « Cash Investigation » reporter who got hired at a McDonald’s franchise restaurant, and Sophie Le Galleditor-in-chief of the magazine.
Laurie63 (Puy-de-Dôme) > I find that this report is very accusatory towards this group. Why not talk about the fact that McDonald’s hires many students and also allows you to get a very formative first job?
Elise Lucet > It is indeed often one of the first jobs of many students and some then progress in the company. In any case, this is what McDonald’s puts forward, but we must also remember that turnover is very high. As we have seen, the working conditions are difficult and the working hours in a day can be very long.
Maxime (Martigues) > Are there a lot of sick leaves at McDonald’s?
Zoe de Bussierre > Difficult to answer this question. McDonald’s in France is more than 1,300 companies, and in the lot, many small structures which are not obliged to publish this data. It is therefore impossible to have an overall figure for the number of sick leaves in restaurants. According to the testimonies I have collected, some continue to go to work even if they suffer from muscle pain. The reason is simple: on sick leave, their compensation is lower than their salary. And others simply end up quitting to look for another job elsewhere.
Adrien (Ardèche) > What is the benefit for McDonald’s of using employment contracts of 15 or 24 hours a week?
Sophie Le Gall > The interest of these contracts is quite simply the flexibility. An employee who works 15 hours a week is easy to manage. He mainly comes to work during the rushes, when the restaurant is sure to have customers. And if the McDonald’s franchisee needs him a little more, he can always ask him to work overtime. The boss can thus constantly adjust the number of employees to the activity of his restaurant.
But is it illegal?
Sophie Le Gall > No, it’s not illegal to have part-time contracts. What is illegal is to impose a contract with such a small number of hours on an employee who would like to work more, pretending that it is at his request.
And how is it for employees in the United States?
Elise Lucet > In the United States, the term « McJob » has entered the dictionary squarely to describe « a low-paying job, with few prospects ». Over there, McDonald’s employees don’t even have a work contract. They never know how many hours they will work per month. It all depends on how busy the restaurants are. And this applies to all employees, even the old ones. This is what Rita, who has worked for eleven years in a McDo in North Carolina, says:
– You were supposed to work today! What happened ?
– Saturday, I went to work, and I saw that they had taken me off the schedule for today. I asked « But why? » The manager answered me: « It’s like that, it’s us who decide on the schedules ».
– Are they going to pay you for this day?
– Nope ! If you don’t work, you don’t get paid!
Vivien (Vaucluse) > Tell me, McDo offers salads, so why do employees only eat burgers?
Rebecca > Yes, it’s true, employees have the option of eating a salad instead of a burger or nuggets. But I can tell you that in the restaurant where I worked, none of my colleagues chose a salad! After a rush, we rather want a nutritious and hot dish, because we end up exhausted. At « Cash » we put on the balance one of the salads offered by McDonald’s, the Caesar. As a result, the one we weighed had only 56 grams of chicken. It’s clearly not consistent enough after such a trying service.
Julien (Jura), employee at McDonald’s > How to do when you are a McDonald’s employee of a franchisee who owns several restaurants with significant profits, to receive the participation bonus?
Zoe de Bussierre > To receive a participation bonus, the franchisee must agree to unite its various restaurants into a single economic and social unit. This requires either a company agreement or a court decision. But for that, the staff representatives must sue the franchisee in question. And in court, they will have to prove, in particular, that the work is the same from one restaurant to another, demonstrate that there is one and the same management for all the restaurants, or that employees can be transferred. from one restaurant to another.
Léo (Toulouse) > I wanted to know if the legal proceedings of the three dismissed employees resulted in a sanction against McDonald’s…
Elise Lucet > These three headquarters employees told us that McDonald’s was ready to make a financial transaction with them. It was a few months ago. But still according to these employees, McDonald’s would have stopped all negotiations, when the company learned that we had interviewed them. McDonald’s would therefore wait to see our investigation to negotiate with them or not. If there is no negotiation, a hearing with the industrial tribunal is scheduled for the end of June.
Excerpt from « It’s like that at McDonald’s? », an investigation by Zoé de Bussierre, broadcast Thursday April 7, 2022 at 9:10 p.m. on France 2.
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