Workers at an Oakland McDonald’s plan to rally Monday evening over an alleged rat infestation.
The Alameda County Health Department inspected the McDonald’s, located near downtown at 1330 Jackson St., on Friday and found a dead rat in the kitchen. The restaurant was shut down until health violations could be remedied.
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The employees went on strike this Saturday, calling for the ownership to clean the premises and guarantee their pay while the McDonald’s is closed.
“We are not trained to clean up rat feces and urine and we do not have protective equipment,” they wrote in a strike notice. “We demand that management bring in professionals to deal with the unsanitary, unsafe environment.”
The health-department inspection was triggered when employees filed a complaint to Cal/OSHA on May 1, writing: “We see rats in the kitchen every day. We see rats at the grill where we make the hamburgers, nibbling on pieces of bacon or on hamburgers that are ready to be sent to the customers, and we see rat droppings next to the bags of chicken nuggets, Big Macs and the papers we wrap around cheeseburgers.”
“I have seen rat excrement in the paper that we use to wrap food, by the nuggets and in the sauce packet containers by the drive through,” alleged a worker in the complaint.
Videos the workers shared online show a rat — or rats, it’s hard to tell them apart — scurrying on top of a bacon station and lodged in a hole in a food warmer. The workers have personally killed several rats with brooms, they say.
In their complaint they note that management sent out exterminators in March, but that they “still hear and see rats every day,” especially coming down from the ceiling.
Videos shared by striking workers allegedly show rats on kitchen equipment at a McDonald’s in Oakland. The workers are holding a rally on May 7 to call attention to their strike demands, including professional cleaning of the restaurant. (Courtesy of employees of the McDonald’s at 1330 Jackson St., Oakland)
In a statement last week, franchise owner Joseph Wong said: “It’s very important to me as a small business owner in Oakland that my employees have a safe place to work. When we became aware of the issue, we immediately contacted pest control and continued to work with them to address the issue.”
The striking workers have a rally scheduled outside the McDonald’s at 5 p.m. on May 7, where they hope to emphasize their demands.
Maria Maldonado, statewide director of the California Fast Food Workers Union, said in a statement: “This is a long-standing problem that needs to be addressed by adequately trained professionals before workers or customers step foot in the store again.”