McDonald’s workers in SF allege sexual harassment in national protest

Supporters representing SEIU 1021, including Xiumin Li (middle) from San Francisco and Sita Stukes (right) representing Women's March in San Jose, march from the BART plaza to the McDonald's on Mission at 24th streets on Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2018, in San Francisco, Calif. McDonald's workers in 10 cities across the country plan to strike at lunchtime today. less Supporters representing SEIU 1021, including Xiumin Li (middle) from San Francisco and Sita Stukes (right) representing Women's March in San Jose, march from the BART plaza to the McDonald's on Mission at 24th ... more Photo: Liz Hafalia / The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Liz Hafalia / The Chronicle Image 1 of / 7 Caption Close McDonald’s workers in SF allege sexual harassment in national protest 1 / 7 Back to Gallery

Tuesday’s lunchtime crowd at the McDonald’s in San Francisco’s Mission District clustered outside the front door, but people weren’t dining al fresco or happily waiting in line for a meal.

About 60 protesters, some of them McDonald’s employees, gathered to chant, wave signs and deliver speeches as part of a national action campaign to protest what they consider the fast-food giant’s inadequate response to sexual harassment complaints from workers.

Protests — publicized in advance as strikes — took place in 10 cities around the country, but nobody walked off the job at the Mission District restaurant, which organizers chose for its central location. A handful of protesters did wear McDonald’s uniforms.

Fight for $15, which organized Tuesday’s protest and aims to unionize fast-food workers and raise the national minimum wage, took up the issue of sexual harassment mostly on behalf of female fast-food workers, organizers said. As the world’s largest fast-food chain, McDonald’s has become a major target.

Protest organizers said the chain’s employees have been subjected to explicit sexual remarks, groping and being rubbed up against, while others have been propositioned by co-workers on the job. Complaints, they said, are ignored or result in retaliation such as reassignment to undesirable shifts or having their hours reduced.

In May, a group of female workers — one just 15 years old — filed sexual harassment complaints against McDonald’s. Many of the strikes Tuesday took place in cities where workers filed complaints.

In addition to San Francisco, protests took place in Chicago; Durham, N.C.; Kansas City, Mo.; Los Angeles; Miami; Milwaukee; New Orleans; Orlando, Fla.; and St. Louis.

While there were no San Francisco strikers at the Mission McDonald’s, a handful of protesters identified themselves as employees and wore the chain’s gray T-shirts with the familiar arch logo.

Among them was Carole Brannock, 49, who works customer service at a Sacramento McDonald’s where she said she was assaulted by a male customer in February while she was cleaning a restroom. Brannock fought off her attacker with a broom, she said, but she was discouraged from reporting the crime or from speaking about it with co-workers.

She loves her job, she said, but she can’t forget the attack and plans to find new employment.

“I look at life differently now,” Brannock said. “I can’t be in a public restroom without flinching, wondering if it’s a man or a woman coming in and what’s going on.”

Fight for $15 officials said the strikers are demanding McDonald’s improve its process for responding to harassment complaints, require anti-harassment training for employees — including managers — and create a national committee that includes workers to address sexual harassment.

McDonald’s released a statement Tuesday in response to questions from The Chronicle about harassment: “We have strong policies, procedures and training in place specifically designed to prevent sexual harassment. To ensure we are doing all that can be done, we have engaged experts in the areas of prevention and response including, RAINN, to evolve our policies so everyone who works at McDonald’s does so in a secure environment every day.”

Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan