and coke sometimes are the best and most practical meal of our happy times. Our mother
sometimes takes a break from cooking and gets us Mc Donald’s for the lunch or dinner. Mc
Donald’s food sounds fan, but how about the company by itself? Is it a company that is fair to its
workers? What do you think that is going on behind McDonald’s restaurants? Does the food
come to your home is made in a good work environment by happy people? Do you think that
workers who prepare our burger get the money they deserve? Are the workers informed and
trained about the whole process of the food? Are the workers unionized and can save their
rights? There is a dark side of Mc Donald Company’s that nobody but only its workers know
about. The workers of Mc Donald’s have to lighten this darkness to find their rights and save
them by unionizing.
As a matter of fact Mc Donald’s workers aren’t unionized, so they are not able to claim
their rights or save them .According to Ron Marcoux , executive vice-president of Mc Donald’s
restaurant of Canada Ltd., as far as he knows none of the company’s Canadian restaurants are
unionized, because Mc Donald’s hires immigrants and teenagers who are not aware of their
rights, are poor, have no talent ,no any knowledge to do another job and don’t speak English
well. Because of the need of money, lack of experience and knowledge, they do whatever
employers say even though they are being treated unfairly. So, these workers become subject to
arbitrariness and unfairness on their job all the time. According to The Toronto Sun News of
April 2002, there is a big turnover at McDonald’s. So, some people had to leave because of the
bad working system or they just get fired. As a worker you never want to be thrown out as an
object and be easily replaced by someone else. You want to be appreciated and respected by your
employer and coworkers. Hence, to avoid the unfair, inappropriate threatening, arbitrary and
careless attitude of the employers’ toward the workers, the workers have to get together and be
unionized.
Mc Donald’s consciously hires workers who are not just teenagers and immigrants, but also
immature and have a weak personality. A sociologist Ester Reiter says that “obedience” is the
most valued aspect of a personality in fast food restaurants (Scshlosser,75). So, these immigrants
and teenagers, because of their hard life conditions, are obedient to their employer and don’t
have the kind of personality, maturity and self-confidence to object and say “no!.” If they do so,
they get fired and lose the chance of earning some money. To stop that kind of usage of
immature workers, Mc Donald workers should definitely get unionized to be able to improve
their personalities, get more mature, and gain some self –confidence and to have the right to say
“no” without being afraid to be fired.
Even though i say that Mc Donald’s workers should know their rights and get unionized ,
that is not really easy for them. Because Mc Donald’s take some serious steps not to have their
workers unionized easily. Mc Donald’s deliberately controls and tries to keep unions out of its
restaurants (Scholesser 76). For example, Mc Donald uses the mass produced system in
assembly line and doesn’t train its workers to improve themselves in the job. Mass Produced
food in assembly line means that the food in Mc Donald’s fast food restaurant is processed by
large groups of people and each person has a very little job to do. Therefore, that system makes it
more difficult for the workers to mention about and fight for their rights. Because the little job ,
that each worker is doing, can be done by anybody who doesn’t even know anything. So, that
mass produced system in assembly line requires almost no rights for the workers, because they
don’t even have an influence or a real importance on the job. That system costs less to the Mc
Donald’s Company, but takes away a lot from the workers earnings. Also, the workers feel
insecure at work because of the small and simple work that they do, they don’t feel themselves
enough useful in this working system. Furthermore, the workers not allowed to be trained to do
the whole or larger of the job even though they want to. So, if the employer wants to fire them,
he can fire them and replace them very easily. Because of these bad consequences of mass
produced system in assembly line on the workers and because of avoiding the workers from
learning and doing more of the job, the workers feel useless and that lessens the ability of
unionization of the workers in enormous amount.
Working in a mass produced system in assembly line so intensive, and many of the workers
get injured. But the company may not want to get any responsibility of the injuries and fire the
injured person right away. They can do that because the workers are not unionized and they
know that the workers are afraid to talk. So, when you are not unionized in your work place you
may not get a chance even to sue the company and get any insurance. Unfortunately ,even if you
lose your hand ,nobody may care. If Mc Donald’s continues using mass produced system in
assembly line for just its benefits to make more money, and continues to avoid listening to and
caring about its workers, one day Mc Donald’s name will be vanished in the universe sooner
than we think .
In conclusion, every fast food restaurant’s workers have to be unionized in order to keep
their rights, gain confidence and have a better working condition. If the workers can keep their
rights , the turnover rates decreases and then the workers can feel safer at work . We ,as the
consumers, can change the system that Mc Donald’s has and help the workers to work in a
smaller groups, by learning more, in safety and in more respectful environment. We may not
change the mass –produced system in assembly line right away, but if we don’t buy big food
chains’ food, we may slowly change their system and help the workers. Don’t let companies to
use your money to harm their workers more and more, and do not support mass produced food
system by keep buying their products.
WORK CITED
Cp. "McUnion Ordered;Burger Workers Sign First Contract." The Toronto Sun [Toronto] 18 Apr. 2002, News sec.: 53. Lexisnexis. Web. 20 Apr. 2010.
Cp. "McDonald's Staff Puts in Order for 'mcunion'at Alberta Outlet." The Toronto Star [Toronto] 6 Oct. 1985, News sec.: A11. Lexisnexis. Web. 20 Apr. 2010.
Schlosser, Eric. "Behind the Counter." Fast Food Nation: the Dark Side of the All-American Meal. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. 59-87. Print.
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