McDonald’s employees raised their voices on Thursday afternoon to spread the word on current working conditions.
No, they aren’t loving it.
Approximately 100 people went on strike both inside and just outside the McDonald’s restaurant in Vallejo off 170 Lincoln Road, demanding the chain drop its support for the referendum against AB 257, a law that aims to give half a million fast-food workers what supporters say will be a voice on the job.
The strike at this particular location was also to demand the restaurant be held accountable for alleged incidents of sexual harassment and wage theft.
Fernando Valencia, who works at the McDonald’s, took to a megaphone often, claiming that labor violation laws are being broken. In 2022 Val filed a complaint with the California labor commissioner’s office, claiming McDonald’s “trapped” him in a “scheme of wage theft,” depriving him of the income he needed to support himself and his family.
Specifically, the complaint alleges that the store manager — Martin (no last name given) forced Valencia to work under two different names so McDonald’s could avoid paying him overtime wages. Under the wage theft scheme, Valencia would work until 2 a.m. seven nights per week, and was forced to clock in under both his own name and the name of a former employee who was still in the payroll system. The manager withheld the check under the second name, cashed it and kept some of Valencia’s wages for himself.
Valencia has since then met with a labor...
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