In an effort to combat Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) among honey bee populations around the world, McDonald’s has opted to install tiny restaurants on the roof’s of its regular-sized restaurants to function as beehives. The cute, bee-sized restaurants mimic their life-sized counterparts as a means to provide a safe shelter for bees to live in. In the midst of this effort to save the bees, though, McDonald’s workers around the United States have been on strike. The worker strike is a way of protesting issues like a need for a higher minimum wage within the company, as well as new sexual harassment charges within the company.
The Bees
A tiny McDonald’s opened its doors on top of the roof of a Swedish McDonald’s to help provide a shelter for local bees to move in. The tiny McDonald’s, called the McHive, was created to shelter bees, despite the fact that it looks like it would serve tiny Big Macs. The miniature restaurant was created by a marketing firm called Noord. It’s fully decorated like a regular-sized McDonald’s would be, but caters to bees instead of humans.
On the inside of the tiny McDonald’s, bees can find a fully functioning bee box to help the tiny bugs thrive despite rising Colony Collapse Disorder cases around the world. Sweden’s initiative to save the bees is nothing new, as Swedish McDonald’s locations around the country have been looking into ways to give back to the bees for quite some time now. Noord, the marketing firm that assisted in this initiative, also worked with McDonald’s last fall to raise awareness for Dyslexic people. The company worked with the fast food retailer to scramble menus in a way that resembles how they would appear to a Dyslexic person.
Strikes Around The United States
In the United States, however, things aren’t going quite so well for McDonald’s. As the shareholders of the company met up for their annual meeting, thousands of workers around the country participated in a strike last week. The strike was to protest wages among the company’s hourly workers, who are fighting for a minimum wage of at least $15/hour. Many economists have argued that as inflation raises the cost of living, minimum wage must be raised significantly as well.
Other companies like Amazon have opted to raise their own minimum wage to $15/hr in the last couple of years. States like Washington and some major cities have also opted to raise the minimum wage as well. In a company as big as McDonald’s workers believe that a raise in wages is only fair as the company would be able to afford this type of change. Organizations like the Fight for $15 campaign, as well as other workers’ unions around the country, have spoken up in support of the fight for a higher minimum wage among McDonald’s employees.
Sexual Harassment
Workers are also striking across the country to raise awareness of the alleged rampant sexual harassment that goes on within the company. Dozens of complaints have been filed against the company in recent years over allegations that the company fosters an environment that allows sexual harassment and a hostile work environment to thrive. Charges have been filed with the American Civil Liberties Union in an effort to bring an end to the situations.
The many allegations filed against McDonald’s argue that the company has been aware of this toxic work environment for quite some time, but hasn’t done anything about it. A comprehensive report from the New York Times discusses the many allegations that have been brought up over the last few years, some of which are pretty alarming.
