SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
For Immediate Release
May, 23 2016, 02:45pm EDT
Contact:
Jack Temple, jack.temple@berlinrosen.com, (646) 200-5280
Anna Susman, anna.susman@berlinrosen.com, (646) 200-5285
10,000 Underpaid Workers to Flood McDonald's Shareholder Meeting Demanding $15, Union Rights
Biggest-Ever Series of Protests at Golden Arches’ HQ to Kick Off with Strike by Chicago Fast-Food Workers
Oak Brook, Ill.
Fast-food, home care, child care, and other underpaid workers from across the country who are fighting for $15/hour and union rights will flood McDonald's headquarters in Oak Brook, Ill. this week, waging the biggest-ever series of strikes and protests to hit the company's annual shareholder meeting.
A wave of actions will kick off Wednesday with a strike at the flagship Rock N Roll McDonald's in Downtown Chicago. Striking cooks and cashiers will then join a record 10,000 underpaid workers from across the country for a massive march on McDonald's headquarters in Oak Brook Wednesday afternoon. Thousands of workers will return Thursday to march directly on the company's shareholder meeting.
Fast-food workers will be joined by home care, child care, airport, higher education and other workers to underscore that McDonald's low pay hurts workers across the entire economy.
Wednesday, May 25
11:30 am CT Strike | Rock N Roll McDonald's, 600 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60610
Massive strike at McDonald's flagship store in Downtown Chicago. Striking Chicago fast-food workers available for interview.
5:00 pm CT Protest | 22nd Street and Jorie Blvd., Oak Brook, IL, 60523 (Media can park at 2111 McDonald's Dr.)
10,000 underpaid workers march on McDonald's HQ in Oak Brook.
Thursday, May 26
6am CT Rally | McDonald's Headquarters 2111 McDonald's Dr.
7 am CT March and Protest | Jorie Blvd & Forest Gate Drive, Oak Brook IL, 60523
Thousands of underpaid workers march on McDonald's shareholder meeting.
Workers will stress that while McDonald's stock just hit an all-time high, the $5 billion fast-food giant still pays wages so low that its workers are forced to rely on public assistance to scrape by. Underpaid workers from across the service sector - joined by McDonald's workers from five countries spanning three continents - will demand that McDonald's use its global economic footprint to lift up working families across the economy rather than hold them down.
As McDonald's faces louder calls from workers across the U.S. demanding higher pay and the right to a union, the company is also coming under fire from regulators and elected officials worldwide over a range of harmful business practices, including tax avoidance, labor violations, and anti-competitive practices.
In April, the French government sent a letter to McDonald's demanding the company pay back EUR300 million ($340 million) in unpaid taxes and fines as a result of a scheme that funneled royalties through Luxembourg. Late last year the European Commission opened an investigation into McDonald's over allegations the company avoided more than EUR1 billion in taxes via the same Luxembourg machinations.
Earlier this year, Spanish tax authorities opened a criminal investigation into McDonald's tax avoidance, and leading consumer rights advocates and NGOs petitioned Italy's top tax authorities late last year to investigate McDonald's over allegations that the fast-food giant has dodged at least EUR74 million ($84 million) in taxes owed to Italy since 2009.
In January, Italian consumer groups filed an antitrust complaint with the European Commission, alleging exorbitant rents and onerous contracts thrust upon franchisees give the company an unfair advantage. Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom - the home of turf of CEO Steve Easterbrook - McDonald's is facing more scrutiny than ever before. In April, Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn announced his party's support for a global campaign to hold McDonald's accountable, saying, "We will extend that campaign all across this continent." Also last month, Labour Party leaders barred McDonald's from sponsoring its party's convention because of the company's unfair treatment of workers. Worker protests in the UK forced McDonald's to abandon its controversial zero-hours scheduling policy in which workers are required to be available to work all the time, but receive no set hours.
In March, Brazilian prosecutors launched an investigation of alleged "fiscal and economic crimes" committed by McDonald's, including suspected tax avoidance and violations of Brazil's franchise and competition laws. As McDonald's looks to sell or refranchise thousands of company-owned stores worldwide, the Change to Win Investment group sent a letter to McDonald's Board of Directors earlier this month expressing concern over flagging sales and poor corporate governance by the company's master franchisor in Latin America, Arcos Dorados.
Fast food workers are coming together all over the country to fight for $15 an hour and the right to form a union without retaliation. We work for corporations that are making tremendous profits, but do not pay employees enough to support our families and to cover basic needs like food, health care, rent and transportation.
LATEST NEWS
'Industry Cronies' at Trump's EPA Reapprove Dangerous Pesticide Dicamba
"It’s hard to see how Making America Healthy Again was anything but another broken campaign promise," said one critic.
Feb 06, 2026
The US Environmental Protection Agency on Friday announced its anticipated reapproval of dicamba for two key crops, a move which, given the pesticide's proven health risks, places the EPA at apparent odds with President Donald Trump's vow to "Make America Healthy Again."
“The industry cronies at the EPA just approved a pesticide that drifts away from application sites for miles and poisons everything it touches,” Nathan Donley, environmental health science director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in response to Friday's announcement.
“With the EPA taking aggressive pro-pesticide industry actions like this, it’s hard to see how Making America Healthy Again was anything but another broken campaign promise," Donley added. "When push comes to shove, this administration is willing to bend over backward to appease the pesticide industry, regardless of the consequences to public health or the environment.”
The EPA said in a statement that the agency "established the strongest protections in agency history for over-the-top (OTT) dicamba application on dicamba-tolerant cotton and soybean crops," and that "this decision responds directly to the strong advocacy of America's cotton and soybean farmers."
While scientific studies have linked exposure to high levels of dicamba to increased risk of cancer and hypothyroidism and the European Union has classified dicamba as a category II suspected endocrine disruptor, the EPA said Friday that "when applied according to the new label instructions," it "found no unreasonable risk to human health and the environment from OTT dicamba use."
This is the third time the EPA has approved dicamba for OTT use. On both prior occasions, federal courts blocked the approvals, citing underestimation of the risk of chemical drift that could harm neighboring farms.
The agency highlighted new restrictions on dicamba use it said will reduce risk of drift.
"EPA recognizes that previous drift issues created legitimate concerns, and designed these new label restrictions to directly address them, including cutting the amount of dicamba that can be used annually in half, doubling required safety agents, requiring conservation practices to protect endangered species, and restricting applications during high temperatures when exposure and volatility risks increase," it said.
Critics noted that the EPA during the Biden administration published a report revealing that during Trump’s first term, senior administration officials intentionally excluded scientific evidence of dicamba-related hazards, including the risk of widespread drift damage, prior to a previous reapproval.
Others pointed to the recent appointment of former American Soybean Associate lobbyist and dicamba advocate Kyle Kunkler as the EPA's pesticides chief.
"Kunkler works under two former lobbyists for the American Chemistry Council, Nancy Beck and Lynn Dekleva, who are now overseen by a fourth industry lobbyist, Doug Troutman, who was recently confirmed to lead the chemicals office following endorsement by the chemical council," the Center for Food Safety (CFS) noted Friday.
The Trump EPA has also come under fire for promoting the alleged safety of atrazine, a herbicide that the World Health Organization says probably causes cancer, and for pushing the US Supreme Court to shield Bayer, which makes the likely carcinogenic weedkiller Roundup, from thousands of lawsuits.
CFS science director Bill Freese said that “the Trump administration’s hostility to farmers and rural America knows no bounds."
“Dicamba drift damage threatens farmers’ livelihoods and tears apart rural communities," Freese added. "And these are farmers and communities already reeling from Trump’s [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] raids on farmworkers, the trade war shutdown of soybean exports to China, and Trump’s bailout of Argentina, whose farmers are selling soybeans to the Chinese—soybeans China used to buy from American growers.”
Keep ReadingShow Less
Three-Time Trump Voter Calls C-SPAN to Apologize for 'Supporting This Rotten, Rotten Man'
"This is not a decent man. This is not an honest man. He openly takes bribes. He's pathetic as a president."
Feb 06, 2026
As polling shows Americans are increasingly unhappy with President Donald Trump's authoritarianism, economy, and overall performance during his first year back in power, some of his voters are speaking out about feeling "swindled" and having buyer's remorse, including one who called into C-SPAN on Friday.
A man identified only as "John in New Mexico, Republican," called in to "Washington Journal" after President Donald Trump posted a video on his Truth Social account with the heads of former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama edited onto the bodies of apes—which was widely condemned, including by some congressional Republicans, before it was taken down.
"I voted for the president—supported him—but I really want to apologize," the caller told anchor Greta Brawner. "I mean, I'm looking at this awful picture of the Obamas. What an embarrassment to our country. All this man does is tell lies. He is not worthy of the presidency."
During Trump's first term, the Washington Post tallied at least 30,573 "false or misleading claims." The trend has continued since his 2020 loss—about which he's often lied—and into his second term. Last year, Glenn Kessler, who was editor and chief writer of the Post's "Fact Checker," found inaccuracies in 32 claims Trump made in just one interview marking 100 days back in office.
The C-SPAN caller on Friday also ripped Trump's relationships with corporate leaders and deadly immigration operations, saying: "He takes bribes, blatantly, and now he's being a racist, blatantly. They were supposed to deport the dangerous criminals. They were not supposed to go after small children, storm schools, bring terror upon the little kids and the women and children. Not just the immigrants in the school, all the children are scared."
"This is not a decent man. This is not an honest man. He openly takes bribes. He's pathetic as a president. And I just want to apologize to everybody in the country for supporting this rotten, rotten man," the caller said, confirming that he voted for Trump in all three of the most recent presidential elections. He also discussed the difficulty of finding jobs and primary care physicians in New Mexico.
Common Dreams has not independently verified the caller's personal details. C-SPAN's call-in feature dates back to 1980, and "Washington Journal" has been the network's flagship program for such calls since 1995. This particular call quickly caught the attention of political observers, as Trump and others in his administration contend with growing outrage over US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions and mounting allegations of corruption and conflicts of interest.
"Wow, it's finally happening!" wrote political commentator Ed Krassenstein on X. "Republicans are waking up to the con that Donald Trump is. Listen to this Trump voter who called into C-SPAN to apologize to the American people for voting for Trump. He tears Trump apart for his racist meme about the Obamas, as well as his inhumane ICE raids and his corruption."
The post about the Obamas was later removed. As Reuters reported:
"A White House staffer erroneously made the post," a White House official said. "It has been taken down."
A Trump adviser said the president had not seen the video before it was posted late on Thursday and ordered it taken down once he had.
Both officials declined to be named. The White House did not respond to a question about the staffer's identity. Only a few senior aides have direct access to Trump's social media account, according to the Trump adviser.
MS NOW anchor Katy Tur played a recording of the C-SPAN caller on her network Friday and noted that "this man isn't the only one who appears to be over it. That frustration is being borne out in poll after poll after poll. The numbers all say the same thing. There are no outliers here."
"The president is too focused on foreign policy, too focused on his 2020 conspiracy theory that he won the election when he did not. Too cruel to migrants and children. Too focused on enriching himself. Not focused enough, by the way, on the economy. Not successful in his big promise of lowering prices. Unethical," she summarized.
Tur also pointed to the recent upset in a special election for a deep-red Texas Senate district—Democrat Taylor Rehmet defeated Trump-endorsed Leigh Wambsganss—and new Axios reporting that Republicans are worried about losing both chambers of Congress, which they currently control by narro in the midterm elections this November.
In the face of such fears, Trump has bullied some Republican-controlled states to gerrymander their political maps and declared Monday that the Republican Party should "nationalize the voting" in the United States, in defiance of the Constitution. The US Department of Justice is also fighting to acquire voter data from states, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation is summoning state election officials for a February 25 conference to discuss "preparations" for the midterms.
Keep ReadingShow Less
As Amazon Sees Record Profits, Customers Say 'Start Delivering Climate Action'
“Amazon has an extraordinary opportunity and an obligation to act more swiftly on climate change,” one member of Prime Members for a Cleaner Amazon said.
Feb 06, 2026
Friday, the day after Amazon revealed record 2025 profits, 10 members of Prime Members for a Cleaner Amazon staged a pedicab protest in front of its Seattle headquarters, calling on the company to raise its climate ambition to the level of its earnings.
In its fourth quarter report, released Thursday, the tech giant announced that its 2025 income had soared to $77.7 billion, up from $59.2 billion in 2024.
“Amazon has an extraordinary opportunity and an obligation to act more swiftly on climate change,” participant Michael Lazarus told Common Dreams. “It’s a leading provider of consumer goods to consumers who want climate action. It has made broad pledges to take action on climate change, it has made some small steps, but it needs to deliver on immediate action.”
Concerned customers are demanding the company put some of those profits toward speeding up the electrification of its delivery fleet, powering its data centers with renewable energy, and improving working conditions for its employees while respecting their collective bargaining rights. A Morning Consult poll found that 80% of Prime members surveyed wanted the company to reduce its transport and delivery emissions, and 75% would accept slower delivery times in exchange for less climate pollution.
“Profits are up. So is pollution. Prime members say: Deliver more climate action.”
“Amazon’s success is built on us, its customers. Now, we’re asking the company to stop celebrating profits and start delivering climate action,” said Dr. Chris Covert-Bowlds, a Seattle-based member of Prime Members for a Cleaner Amazon and Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility.
The protest took place outside Amazon’s Day 1 building, where CEO Andy Jassy has his office, from around 8:00 am to 10:30 am Pacific time. Participants rode four pedicabs as a subtle suggestion to the company of how to move goods without fossil fuels. The cabs were decorated with billboards with messages such as, “Deliver packages. Not pollution,” and “Profits are up. So is pollution. Prime members say: Deliver more climate action.”
Participants also handed out hundreds of stickers and flyers to Seattle residents and Amazon employees.
Amazon has a history of making sustainability promises it does not keep and retaliating against employees who call it to account. While it has pledged to reach carbon neutrality across its operations by 2040, it is increasingly unclear how it will achieve this given its buildout of energy-intensive data centers and artificial intelligence.
“We’ve been calling attention to Amazon’s failure to align its emissions reductions with the latest climate science for years,” Stand.earth campaigner Joshua Archer told Common Dreams.
However, he said what “makes this moment really unique” is that Amazon is now failing three distinct groups of people: consumers like those at the protest who want it to do better on climate, investors who are concerned about returns from the AI buildout, and the 30,000 employees it laid off since October despite its record profits.
“The company is not respecting the employees on whose backs the company has built its success” just as it’s “not respecting the latest climate science,” Archer said.
Lazarus said that many employees expressed interest in the protesters’ demands. While some zipped past in headphones, others “lit up and were clearly engaged and simpatico.”
He noted that Amazon employees have been organizing for years to pressure the company to increase its climate ambitions through Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, and hoped the addition of consumer advocacy would help “Amazon realize that there’s a groundswell of support for taking more aggressive measures to reduce their climate impact... which is becoming quite monumental given the growth in data cents and the influence that they carry.”
Lazarus told Common Dreams it was also important to him that Amazon ramp up its climate ambitions given President Donald Trump’s determination to double down on fossil fuels and inhibit renewable energy.
“We know that we’re not going to see much climate action at the federal level,” he said. “It becomes all the more important for corporate actors like Amazon to demonstrate that it remains committed to and acts upon its need to reduce emissions.”
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular