BY RAY PARSONS, TONY PRINCE, AND TOM MAILER
CLEVELAND - A group of workers at the McDonald's restaurant in Macedonia, Ohio, near here who went on strike in April have given the boss there until June 1 to comply with the agreement that ended the strike, or they will join the Teamsters union.

One of the workers, Bryan Drapp, told the Militant, "The basic issue is pay equity. Management didn't adjust the wages to close the wage gap like they had agreed to; they had wage reviews instead."

Jamal Nickens said, "To give one example, one worker who has been there 14 years, is available 7 days a week, opens and closes the store, and works 45 hours a week got a 10 cent raise. I've been there four months and am available fewer hours, and I got a 20 cent raise. That's not right."

Drapp added, "They're picking on the former strikers, Jamal and me especially. They're right on us if we do something wrong."

"Bryan and I have both been suspended," said Nickens. "They can't fire us outright because they'd get too much bad publicity, but they're trying to keep the money out of our pockets." Drapp and Nickens are both back to work now. Another worker who was active in the strike, Josh Jones, is on indefinite suspension.

Nickens gave other examples of what McDonald's is doing. "We caught them red-handed changing the policy for the penalty for `no call, no show' from a warning for the first occurrence to termination for the first occurrence. They also dropped the hiring rate from $5.50 an hour to $5.25 an hour," he said.

Drapp explained that the workers' notice of intent to unionize the restaurant if the company did not comply with the conditions had been faxed to the company that day, May 20, and workers had not yet received a response.

Nickens pointed out, however, that the bosses have been telling the workers that "If we get a union they're going to close the store."

Drapp said that currently "about 20 of the workers have signed union cards out of a workforce of no more than 35, and more people want to sign."

Tony Prince is a member of United Steelworkers of America Local 188.  
 
 
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