Fast Food Workers Striking Over Working Conditions, Wages, Around St. Louis

A movement to unionize fast food restaurants throughout the St. Louis Region hit North County today.

Employees at the Dellwood McDonald's, located at 9131 W. Florissant, will walk out of the building around 3:45 p.m., in a strike.

St. Louis Jimmy John's workers picketed in front of the Soulard location Thursday morning.

It's a push for respect through better pay, improved working conditions. Shannon Garth-Rhodes, spokesperson with the effort, also said this is part of a fight for the right to form a union without retaliation.

"Workers will strike for a $15 per hour wage floor and to take a stand against unfair retaliation targeting workers who are sticking together to speak out for better jobs," she said in a statement.

Garth-Rhodes said the local action is part of a bigger movement. The strike was inspired by similar efforts in New York City and Chicago, though rumblings for better working conditions began in March 2011 following the firing of six employees from a Minneapolis store.

She said Jimmy John's employees were subjected to forms of mental abuse.

"In the past several months, Jimmy John's managers have required workers to publicly hold signs when they don't perform up to the sandwich chain's 'freaky fast' job expectations," Garth-Rhodes said.

One worker was ordered to hold a sign stating, “I made 3 wrong sandwiches today,"  Garth-Rhodes said; while another was forced to hold a sign that said, “I was more than 13 seconds in the drive thru.”

The strike is expected to impact more than 20 restaurant locations  and 18 fast food chains around the St. Louis region and includes a wide range of fast food and fast casual establishments such as Jimmy John's, McDonalds, Panera, Chipotle, Jack in the Box, Hardee's, Domino's, and Wendy's.