In February 2023, workers and RAFFWU members at McDonald’s Traralgon made history by taking a stand against sexual harassment in the workplace. In response to a serious incident on 2 February 2023, RAFFWU members and workers at McDonald’s Traralgon staged a snap walkout. This action followed months of ignored complaints about sexual harassment at the store. Every worker has the right to stop work if they hold a reasonable concern of an imminent threat to their health or safety. I was the overnight manager at Traralgon McDonald’s and on February 2nd, after I walked on shift, it was reported to me that a sexual assault had allegedly occurred on an underage crew member. Unable to reach upper management, I called the police to ensure the safety and well-being of the crew member. After I called the police, the store’s HR manager called me back. During an eight-minute phone call, I was repeatedly verbally berated for calling the police and told calling the police was the worst thing I could have done. At no point during this phone call did the store’s HR manager ask about the well-being of the person who had allegedly been assaulted. Once the crew became aware of what had occurred they had had enough and walked off shift. The workplace was simply not safe. This was the first time in Australian history a fast food crew walked off shift in response to sexual harassment. Sarah Hudson, Gippsland Project Organiser As a manager, I had to remain in the store until another manager I had called came to relieve me. After my crew left, the store’s HR manager arrived and continued berating me in person for having called the police and for having closed the store. During this conversation, my arm was grabbed, and I was told, “Your only duty of care was to the store”. The next day we all received directions to attend a disciplinary meeting in response to the incident. In my direction to attend a disciplinary meeting, it was stated that I had engaged in willful misconduct by closing the store. It’s clear that to McDonald’s Traralgon, the loss of profits due to the store’s closure was more important than the safety and well-being of their workers. After receiving my directions to attend a disciplinary meeting, I contacted RAFFWU. Once RAFFWU became involved, my notice to attend a disciplinary meeting was retracted, and in a later email, I was told this notice had been sent in error. Those not represented by RAFFWU attended disciplinary meetings, and one crew member was suspended. Through RAFFWU, we organised a rally in response to this woeful behaviour by the employer. There was a fantastic community response, with around 100 people attending to support us in our fight. I and the other people affected by the sexual harassment at the Traralgon store have not received an apology from McDonald’s – but we understand the alleged perpetrator and HR manager no longer work for McDonald’s, and the Traralgon and Traralgon East stores are now under new ownership. RAFFWU made the decision to initiate a project with the goal of addressing workplace sexual harassment, extending its focus beyond Traralgon to encompass the broader Gippsland region. Employers in retail and fast food claim to be combatting sexual harassment, but under their watch huge numbers of retail and fast food workers have experienced workplace sexual harassment. As workers, we can clearly see in our own workplaces that the approaches our employers have taken to eliminate sexual harassment have failed. Why is this the case? Employers must consult with their workers when creating policies and procedures to tackle workplace sexual harassment, but as workers, we know that this doesn’t happen. We know that a much more effective way to tackle the pervasive issue of sexual harassment in our workplaces is through collaboration with workers rather than with employers. We did not want to create a project targeting sexual harassment for our members; we wanted to create this project with our members. AND MCDONALDS TRARALGON 22 Trigger Warning: This story deals with issues of harassment including sexual harassment. GIPPSLAND PROJECT
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