Worldwide Anti-McDonald's Day, Wednesday Oct 16th - CALL FOR ACTION!
1. World Anti-McDonald's Day - Wednesday October 16th 2. This year McDonald's workers call for joint action 3. The Global Campaign 4. What's Wrong With McDonald's? CALL FOR ACTION ON WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 16th - WORLDWIDE ANTI-McDONALD'S DAY
Wednesday October 16th 2002 will be the 18th annual Worldwide Anti-McDonald's Day [UN World Food Day] - a protest against the promotion of junk food, the unethical targeting of children, exploitation of workers, animal cruelty, damage to the environment and the global domination of corporations over our lives.
The 17th annual day of action was held on Tues October 16th 2001. Last year we had reports of local protests all around the globe, including from Australia, Phillipines, Canada, Brazil, New Zealand, Malta, Israel, UK, Greece, Italy, Russia, Croatia and USA.
In 1999, when we had specifically monitored where the October 16th protests took place, we heard of 425 protests and pickets in 345 towns in 23 countries. Millions of leaflets have now been handed out in over 27 languages worldwide since 1990 when the McDonald's Corporation took legal action against the McLibel 2 aiming to suppress the original London Greenpeace leafletting campaign. This surely demonstrates the determination of community activists to ensure that the public have the opportunity to see through the glossy marketing propaganda that big business continually forces upon us.
THIS YEAR, A JOINT CALL FOR ACTION FROM McDONALD'S OWN WORKERS
This year we are very pleased to announce that the growing international network of McDonald's employees - the McDonald's Workers Resistance, established in 2000 - is calling for McDonald's workers around the world to take joint action on the same day, October 16th. Workers could phone in sick, hold partial walk-outs and go slows etc, and send messages of support to protestors outside stores.
MWR say: ' It will be the first ever co-ordinated, international, worker-led mobilisation by the McDonalds workforce. October 16th was chosen because since the mid-1980s it has been the date of world anti-McDonalds day. So, simultaneous to our actions, people who do not work for McDonalds but are opposed to its labour practices, cruelty to animals and destructive environmental impact, will also be engaged in actions at McDonalds restaurants all over the world. We hope that all actions can be mutually supportive.'
The Glasgow (Scotland) MWR branch is demanding that: 'All those employed by McDonalds, anywhere in the world, be allowed to organise themselves as they wish and that they be allowed to conduct the business of their chosen organisations on company premises, be allowed to display notices in staff areas and generally circulate information without hindrance. That this right to organisation and free expression is not dependent on the number of people involved in the organisation and that no person shall be prejudiced against for involvement in such an organisation. This demand applies to those employed directly and indirectly by McDonalds and so includes, for example, those employed to make happy meal toys or company packaging. Our lives may be very different but our struggle is the same. Finally, we ask McDonalds to make explicit that they do not own their employees and that they have no right to dictate what we can and cannot believe or express at any time.'
If you would like to know more about MWR, please visit http://www.mwr.org.uk
SO WHY NOT ORGANISE PICKETS AND PROTESTS IN YOUR TOWN ON WED OCT 16th (OR ANY DAY THAT WEEK)? And please send us a report!
Please copy the 'What's Wrong With McDonald's?' leaflet at: www.mcspotlight.org/campaigns/current/resources.html [or use latest text below]
