by Colin Dennis

Created on: June 09, 2009

In February 1998, ninety percent of the employees of the McDonald's franchise in the town of St. Hubert, Quebec, voted to join the local International Brotherhood of Teamsters affiliate. But franchisees, Tom and Mike Cappelli opted to close the doors of the restaurant on February 27, 1998, saying the franchise was no longer profitable.

It was not the first attempt to unionize a McDonald's franchise in Canada. Two previous attempts had been made to unionize McDonald's workers in Quebec in 1993 and Ontario in 1994. More than a decade later, the threat of unionization remains one of the main labor issues in the fast-food sector.

The fast-food industry is not ideal for unionization: restaurants have high staff turnovers, which can be as high as 200 percent each year. In 1993, fifty-three percent of the workers at the McDonald's Longueuil outlet, sought certification with an affiliate of the Quebec Federation of Labor (QFL). But by the time the Quebec Labor ministry ordered the vote, support among employees for certification had dropped to under 40 percent. The QFL also represents workers at Tim Horton's, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Harvey's.

There was another failed attempt to organize workers at a McDonald's outlet in Orangeville, Ontario in 1993 when workers tried to join the Services Employees International Union (SEIU).

Unions are more common in larger restaurants and hotels especially in ones where workers' wages depend on the receipt of tips. In the United States most of these unionized workers belong to Unite Here and the Service Employees International Union.

"Unions are inimical to what we stand for and how we operate," said former McDonald's Corporation labor relations chief John Cooke. In 1991, then Chief Executive of McDonald's Corporation, speaking of union activity in Europe, said:

"McDonald's is basically a non-union company and intends to stay that way."

McDonald's U.K. vice-president Sidney Nicholson said:

"If every single member of a crew in a particular restaurant joined a union, (McDonald's) would still not negotiate with the union."

The fast-food restaurant business represents one of the fastest growing industries in the United States. It is an industry that has grown to over 100,000 stores and $60 billion in annual sales. Employment in the sector has also skyrocketed: according to the Bureau of Labor Standards Occupational (BLS) Outlook Handbook, 2008-2009, fast-food restaurants now employ over 3 million workers -more than 40 percent of all

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