Cardiff UCU has released a statement of solidarity with fast-food workers fighting for decent pay, union recognition, and against precarious working conditions.
Cardiff University UCU branch wishes to express its solidarity with the fast food workers’ strikes taking place across the UK on 4th October, which includes workers at McDonald’s, Wetherspoons, TGI Fridays, as well as Uber Eats drivers. This is a brave move by these workers, who face poverty pay, aggressive management, and minimal protections in terms of a reliable income and decent working conditions. We hope that actions by the BFAWU, IWW and IWGB will inspire other workers in similar situations to organise collectively too. We look forward to celebrating a swift and total victory for those involved and the beginning of a wider struggle to improve the working lives of the countless thousands of food sector workers across the UK and beyond.
We’ll look into donating to the strike funds for these unions, too.
Precarity is no longer an issue just for other workers (50% of UK University contracts, and almost a quarter of those at Cardiff, are “atypical” – i.e. short-term, hourly-paid, zero-hours, etc). We need to take action on this ourselves, as well as supporting others (like, by voting “Yes” in the current ballot for instance 😉).
Join us, the Cardiff UCU banner, and fast food workers in Wales, in the Cardiff McStrike solidarity demo outside McDonalds at 5pm today (4th October).