The #MeToo movement has inspired low-wage workers to speak out about sexual harassment that they say is systemic

When Teresa Cervantes entered her manager’s office at a Chicago McDonald’s, a different manager asked what she wanted, as Cervantes recounted in Spanish during a one-day strike of McDonald’s workers, outside the Chicago corporate headquarters on Tuesday.

The manager asked if she was there for “pito” – a word for male genitalia – since Cervantes’ boss was known for pressuring workers to have sex in the office or store bathrooms, said Cervantes, who worked at the city’s famous Rock ‘N’ Roll McDonald’s and other locations.

McDonald's workers walk out in 10 US cities over 'sexual harassment epidemic' Read more

“I told her I’m not that kind of worker, I was just trying to be a responsible worker,” requesting a schedule change since her two kids were starting school, she explained.

Workers who spoke at the rally – billed as a #MeToo moment for McDonald’s – described sexual abuse, coercion and harassment as everyday occurrences in the restaurants. They said McDonald’s has done little to address the problem, despite complaints filed with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on behalf of 15 workers in 2016 and 10 more filed earlier this year.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest McDonalds employees and other fast food chain workers protested in 10 cities across the US. Photograph: Joshua Lott/AFP/Getty Images

Workers at McDonald’s restaurants in 10 cities nationwide walked off the job on Tuesday to demand that the company address sexual abuse and harassment, including by forming a committee comprised of workers, corporate and franchise representatives, and national women’s groups. Organizers said this was the first nationwide strike ever called specifically to protest sexual harassment.

“We’re breaking our silence, we’re making history,” said Cervantes, whose daughter also works at McDonald’s. “So youth will have a better future.”

Workers described the company’s lack of action on sexual harassment as part of a larger culture of disrespecting and exploiting workers. They noted that the company has aggressively resisted attempts by workers to join a labor union, and workers’ demands that it pay $15 an hour. Workers affiliated with the Fight for $15 campaign voted to go on strike, and the action was supported by various labor and women’s groups.

Forty percent of female fast food workers reported they had been sexually harassed, in a 2016 survey by Hart Research Associates conducted for the National Partnership for Women and Families, the Ms Foundation and Futures Without Violence.

Adriana Alvarez, 26, noted that she went on strike for a day in the spring when the latest EEOC complaints were filed. Since she felt McDonald’s has done nothing to improve the situation, she was eager to again walk out of the McDonald’s she works at in the Chicago suburb of Cicero.

“The public doesn’t know what we go through, behind the counters, in the bathrooms, in the janitors closets,” she said. “I really hope this does make a statement. We’re sick and tired of having to deal with this.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Adriana Alvarez at McDonald’s rally in Chicago: ‘The public doesn’t know what we go through, behind the counters, in the bathrooms, in the janitors closets.’ Photograph: Kari Lydersen/The Guardian

Aiesha Meadows, 26, worked at McDonald’s at O’Hare international airport from 2010 to 2013. She said sexual harassment was rampant, but she and other workers felt they couldn’t speak out for fear of losing their jobs.

“They just brush it off the table,” she said. “We’re not going to say anything because at the end of the day we need to feed our families.”

Tuesday’s walkouts and rallies also happened in Durham, Kansas City, Missouri, Los Angeles, Miami, Milwaukee, New Orleans, Orlando, San Francisco and St Louis. McDonald’s did not respond to a request for comment.

Workers said the #MeToo movement, which started with actresses and other high-profile people, has inspired low-wage workers to speak out about sexual harassment that they say is systemic in their workplaces.

“This happens to everybody,” Alvarez said. “It cuts across all classes.”

Ali Baker has worked for a decade as a server, fast-food worker and barista, and experienced sexual harassment often, she said. She is a member-leader with the Restaurant Opportunity Center, an organization which brings together restaurant management and workers to change working conditions.

“I’ve been backed into a corner by my boss, I’ve been kissed by my manager, I’ve had my legs groped, I’ve been put in uncomfortable situations where it was easier to go along,” she told the crowd outside McDonald’s new corporate headquarters and Hamburger University in Chicago’s trendy West Loop neighborhood.

But no more. “It’s time to say, ‘I’m not on the menu,’” she said. “Time’s up, McDonald’s!”