Fast-food workers are striking after a McDonald's customer attacked an employee
- Fast-food workers in Florida are striking on Tuesday in response to an attack on a McDonald's employee.
- Earlier in January, a viral video showed a customer reaching across the counter and grabbing a female McDonald's employee by her shirt, dragging her toward him.
- "I'm going on strike because at McDonald's, we're subjected to all types of behavior that has no place at work - from physical attacks and armed robberies, to sexual harassment, to racial discrimination," one McDonald's worker said in a statement.
- A 2015 survey of almost 1,500 fast-food workers found that 87% said they had been injured at least once while at work in the previous year, including 12% who were injured in assaults on the job.
Fast-food workers in Florida are striking to draw attention to a problem plaguing the industry.
Employees involved in the Fight for $15 movement in St. Petersburg, Tampa, and Orlando, Florida, are striking during lunchtime on Tuesday. The strike follows a viral video showing a fight in a Florida McDonald's.
The video, posted online in early January, shows a male customer reaching across the counter and grabbing a female employee by her shirt, dragging her toward him. The employee started to hit the customer, in an apparent attempt to get him to let go of her, until the two were separated by other employees.
Watch the video here:
Striking fast-food workers say that the incident is indicative of larger issues in the industry.
"No one should have to fear for their own safety when they report to work each day, but it's very clear I'm not safe at McDonald's," Gail Rogers, one of the McDonald's workers planning to strike Tuesday, said in a Fight for $15 statement.
"I'm going on strike because at McDonald's, we're subjected to all types of behavior that has no place at work - from physical attacks and armed robberies, to sexual harassment, to racial discrimination," Rogers continued. "We won't back down until McDonald's takes responsibility for protecting all workers on the job."
A 2015 survey of almost 1,500 fast-food workers found that 87% said they had been injured at least once while at work in the previous year. Some of these injuries were in the kitchen - 79% said they had been burned, and 67% said they had been cut. Additionally, 12% said they had been assaulted on the job in the previous year.
McDonald's did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment about the strike.
"Our highest priority is always the safety and well-being of our employees and customers at our restaurants," a McDonald's representative said in a statement last week.
Workers striking on Tuesday are asking that chains provide training that helps employees and managers handle violence at work. Additionally, they are calling for new security protocols and protective policies to be established to protect workers.
