McDonald's and unions

McDonald's is one of the largest fast food chains in the world. The vast majority of its restaurants operate as franchisees. The ownership and legal structures significantly impact the bargaining power and industrial relations between McDonald's and its workers.

Surveillance
In a 2021 Vice News report, it was revealed that McDonald's engaged in corporate surveillance of union organizers and McDonald workers in Chicago and London involved with the Fight for $15 campaign which is financed by the US based Service Employees International Union.

Australia
McDonald's Australia opened its first restaurant in Yagoona, a suburb of Sydney, in 1971.

In late December 2018 and January 2019, Retail and Fast Food Workers Union (RAFFWU) began a major campaign in improving McDonald's workers conditions. The campaign revolved around the company's unlawful denial of employees' 10-minute breaks. Several McDonald's stores claimed that workers could either access drinking and toilet facilities at this time or take their allocated break. RAFFWU responded that this contravened the negotiated agreement and that workers had the right to drink water or go to the toilet whenever they wished.

RAFFWU organized a "historic" protest in front of the Myer Centre McDonald's in Brisbane, demanding "basic human rights" like drinking water.

In 2019, RAFFWU member Chiara Stains with the support of RAFFWU commenced litigation against Tantex holdings for breach of numerous workplace and human rights. In September 2020 the Federal Court ruled in favor of Chiara and RAFFWU and ruled that workers have the legal right to take toilet breaks and drink water, which Tantex had threatened to withhold in a breach of employee's workplace rights. Chiara receive A$800 in lost breaks and $1000 compensation, and the McDonald's franchisee was fined $82,000 in total.

Austria
McDonald's Austria has 4,000 workers across 80 restaurants as of 1999. 80% of these restaurants operate as franchisees. While workers were covered by collective agreements of HGPD union (which later merged into Vida) since 1977 when McDonald's opened in Austria, McDonald's relationship with trade unions was non existent until the 1994.

In contrast to the works council system in Germany, Austrian labor law requires candidates to be EU citizens, which is a challenge for the ~70% migrant workers of McDonald's Austria. With no works council members, trade unions are not easily able to monitor compliance with existing collective agreements.

Denmark
McDonald's Denmark has 4,000 workers across 80 restaurants. 90% of these restaurants operate as franchisees. When McDonald's arrived in Denmark in 1981, it engaged in industrial disputes with Restaurant Trade Union, before concluding a regional collective agreement in 1989. In theory, every restaurant could have union representatives and no cooperation committees (Danish equivalent to works council). As of 1999, only one restaurant had a union representative, and none had a cooperation committee.

Germany
McDonald's Germany employs 65,000 workers across its 1,470 restaurants. 1,313 (or 90%) of these restaurants are managed as franchisees. McDonald's Germany notably does not have any employee representatives on its Supervisory Board, despite having over 50,000 employees, well above the legal threshold of 2,000 employees specified in the Co-determination Act. This is because it is wholly registered in under the American McDonald's Corporation in Chicago, Illinois, which is permitted under the German-American Trade Agreement.

Works Councils can be set up in any establishment in Germany with 5 or more employees. In theory, every single McDonald restaurant could have a Works Council. In 2002, 50 restaurants out of 1,150 had Works Councils. Since 1999, a company wide Central Works Council (GBR) was established.

The food and beverage trade union NGG alleges that McDonald's engages in union busting and retaliates against union affiliated Works Councils. Allegations include changing the ownership of union friendly restaurants into separate holding companies (so they cannot participate in the GBR election) and setting up a parallel employer friendly Central Works Council, with the two competing for legal legitimacy.

Japan
McDonald's Japan was first established in Ginza, Tokyo district in 1971. The majority (70 percent) of McDonald's Japan restaurants are managed directly by the corporation with the remaining franchisees being operated overwhelmingly by former McDonald's employees as of 2012.

The McDonald's Japan Union (Nihon Makudonarudo Yunion) was established on 15 May 2006 with 200 initial members, later on with the support of RENGO, the Japanese Trade Union Confederation. Unpaid overtime, working conditions of full and part-time were some of the expressed factors for forming a union.

Overtime lawsuit
In 2005, Takano Hiroshi, a McDonald's store manager (tenchō) visited the community union Tokyo Kanrishoku Union (Tokyo Managers Union) to file a grievance against McDonald's over unpaid hundreds of overtime pay and employee misclassification. Shortly afterwards, labor inspectors visited several restaurants, including his worksite and mandated personnel improvements. Management subsequently accused Takano of alerting them. After failed negotiations, Takano's lawsuit was resolved in a court ruling in 2008, with back pay and overtime afforded to all tenchō employees. McDonald's resisted changing its practices fundamentally, for example providing overtime pay, but also reducing the base wages so that there is little net difference.

United Kingdom
McDonald's United Kingdom was first established in 1974. 115,000 workers operated across 1,249 restaurants as of 2017. The vast majority of employees have zero-hour contracts.

In 1999, McDonalds Workers Resistance, a radical non-hierarchical worker's organisation, was formed at a McDonald's outlet in Glasgow, and remained active through to 2004. On 16 October 2002, they organized a "Global Day of Action" which saw labour action in Europe, North America and Oceania. The group's efforts were supported and promoted by the McLibel Support Campaign, which aimed to support London Greenpeace members who were sued by the company for slander due to distributing leaflets which were critical of the company.

On 4 September 2017, the first strike actions were organized at two restaurants in Cambridge and Crayford with support of Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union.

United States
McDonald's first opened in California in 1940. It operates 14,300 franchises. None of the restaurants are unionized. Fight For $15 is the most active labor related campaign, and is funded partly by the SEIU.

McDonald's franchise model and lack of joint-employer status means that each and every single individual restaurant would have to individually vote to unionize. The NLRB in October 2023 paved the way for more expansive definition of joint-employment that would force McDonald's to directly negotiate with trade unions.