McDonald's workers accuse fast food chain of serious safety failings and 'degrading' treatment

'The tool they gave me to use the machine cut my hand, leaving a layer of skin hanging, there was blood everywhere,' one employee alleged

McDonald’s workers have accused their employer of serious safety failings as well as “belittling and degrading” staff.

Staff also said they had to borrow money because the fast food chain offered them insecure shifts and low pay, according to responses to a survey by campaign group, Organise.

One employee said McDonald’s did not train them how to do their job safely. As a result, that the person claimed to have sustained a serious injury which could have resulted in unhygienic treatment of food, that person said..

“The tool they gave me to use the machine cut my hand, leaving a layer of skin hanging, there was blood everywhere. I got a plaster but wasn't given any safety gloves and the manager didn't care,” the worker, who wished to remain anonymous, told Organise.

Another employee, who claimed to be on a zero-hours contract, expressed a desire to work without “worrying about living month to month”.

That person said: “It's not like McDonald's are short of money and need to make the cut backs. They're willing to see staff struggle just to put a few more pennies in their own pockets.”

A third McDonald’s employee spoke of, “constant belittling and degrading treatment of staff by managers” and teenagers being forced to work 16-hour shifts.

McDonald’s workers held the first ever strike against the company in the UK earlier this month. The employees - nicknamed the McStrikers - from McDonald’s Crayford and Cambridge branches were cheered when mentioned by shadow chancellor John McDonnell at the Labour Party conference this week.

One of the strikers, Shen Batmaz, said on Monday “McDonald's called us liars and said there was only a few of us. This many people can't all be wrong. We know you can tell a McDonald's worker from the burns on their arms. We all have stories of abuse and injuries at work.”

Organise polled 400 people who signed a petition demanding that McDonald’s pay its workers £10 per hour. It found that 71 per cent of those people said they had had to borrow money to survive. Two thirds said they had borrowed the money from family members and 13 per cent from high interest payday loan companies.

Four fifths of respondents said they were currently on insecure zero-hours contracts, with shifts being changed or cancelled last minute, while 84 per cent said that they would like to work a set number of hours each week. McDonald’s said the contracts would be available at all of its UK restaurants by the end of 2017.

McDonald’s did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the allegations. The company announced in April that workers would be offered a choice of flexible or fixed contracts with minimum guaranteed hours, adding 86 per cent of workers have chosen to stay on flexible contracts.