---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 21 Apr 1998 00:20:02 -0400 From: Tom Patterson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: Forum on Labor in the Global Economy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: McDonalds Strike (fwd) ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Friday April 17 8:28 PM EDT Young McDonald's strikers back at work MACEDONIA, Ohio, April 17 (UPI) _ A group of teenage McDonald's restaurant employees in Ohio are back at work after ending a five-day walkout that's believed to be the first such strike against the Illinois-based giant fast food chain. The teenagers, with help of a Teamsters union officer, negotiated an end to the walkout after truck drivers started refusing to make deliveries to the restaurant, located about 20 miles south of Cleveland. The president of Teamsters Local 416 in Cleveland, Dominic Tocco (``tow-koh''), told United Press International today: ``I drove by earlier this week while the kids were on the picket line, standing in the rain. Nobody was paying much attention to them, probably just thinking they were cute. I asked if they wanted any help. ``When they started telling me their concerns, and I was struck by how trivial their problems were. They wanted things like an up-to-date first-aid kit, more utensils for the grill and just to be treated with more respect. So I gave them some union representation cards so McDonald's wouldn't take them lightly. It apparently worked.'' The agreement, among other things, raises base pay to $6.50 an hour with more money for experienced workers, and calls for four crew meetings annually, an employee-of-the-month program, anniversary pins, and an annual employee summer outings. It also requires managers to complete ``people skills classes.'' Tocco said he's already getting calls from workers at other fast food restaurants across the nation, asking for copies of that contract. McDonald's is headquartered in Oak Brook, a southwest Chicago suburb. _- Copyright 1998 by United Press International. All rights reserved.
