McDonald’s has “punished workers at an Auckland restaurant” after complaints from staff

McDonald’s workers in Oakland say their hours have been cut after they filed a government complaint about crimes at their store.

Employees of the 14th Street business filed a complaint with the California Department of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) on Dec. 20, just days after an armed robbery at their store and a machete incident in September, according to records. CROWN 4.

That same day, management reportedly told employees that the store’s lobby would be closed and hours would be reduced to accommodate the changes, including reducing shifts to six hours.

However, the workers who complained said their work hours were cut by 50 percent, while others kept their full-time schedules. This left fast-food workers begging and trying to pay their bills for hours, according to the outlet, which investigated the complaint.

They accuse the store of “retaliating” against them for filing the complaint, and they want “an investigation into the actual number of hours worked for each employee before and after we filed the Cal/OSHA complaint.”

“(We believe this) will show that the complainants have disproportionately borne the brunt of the lobby closure as a form of retaliation by management for filing a CalOSHA complaint,” the staff said.

They also demanded a meeting with store owners to discuss the schedule, KRON 4 reported.

On Friday, workers at the store on 14th Street went on strike over retaliation, reports said California Fast Food Workers Union.

“We demand a meeting with the shop owners to discuss the ongoing illegal actions and retaliation. In addition, we demand that we be allowed to bring someone from our union to translate during this meeting with the owners of this store,” the union said.

They claim Cal/OSHA came to the store but “only spoke to management.”

“It’s our legal right to have a safe workplace!” the union wrote on X.

The McDonald’s brand was recently hit by an E. coli outbreak after former President Donald Trump stopped by a store in Pennsylvania to hand out food and box fries.

A large E. Coli outbreak has been linked to fast-food restaurants in the Mountain West, killing one and hospitalizing 10 others.

The outbreak has prompted about 2,700 stores, about one-fifth of the U.S., to stop selling the chain’s Quarter Pounder because officials suspect its patties or onions may have been contaminated.

The CDC says that anyone who eats a quarter pound (that’s 100,000 Americans a day) and feels sick should see a doctor right away.

Food safety experts told DailyMail.com that those who ate at McDonald’s should remain vigilant for two to eight days after contact, as symptoms could start about a week later.

Escherichia coli kills up to a fifth of people it infects, so we advise you not to wait and seek help immediately. So far, 49 Americans have been confirmed to have gotten sick after eating at McDonald’s, but that number is likely much lower, the CDC said.

Burger King, KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell followed McDonald’s lead and stopped using fresh onions in their food products, citing it as the most likely source of the deadly E. coli outbreak in western states.

The Republican candidate sat down behind the fryer at a McDonald’s restaurant in suburban Philadelphia and sat behind the counter in an attempt to undermine Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.

“Now I’ve worked 15 minutes longer than Kamala,” Trump said after working at a fast-food restaurant, revising his claim that his rival did not work at McDonald’s as a student, as she says she did.

Harris, 60, has touted throughout her campaign how she worked at the California branch of the fast-food franchise, though her camp has not released any photos of her working there as a young woman. Trump claims Harris is “lying” and never worked at the restaurant, but has provided no evidence to back that up.

Video taken from the kitchen on Sunday showed Trump, 78, handing out orders to a group of grateful prearranged “customers” — Trump supporters believed to have been pre-selected by his camp — who were to see the former president serve their meals and explained to him why they would support him in next month’s election.

McDonald’s has come forward and said it does not endorse a political party and that it enjoys the fact that both major candidates have a brand connection.