I have a problem, and I need your help.I work for McD's as a 2nd.
I have just finished a degree in which I specialised in Third World(3W) problems and solutions.
So I think I have a fair idea of both sides of the arguement.
And quite frankly, we may just be missing the point.
Fact is, 1/4 pounders, fresh of the grill, are damn tasty. As are freshly cooked fries. And people want tasty food. However big this campaign gets, McD's will always be one step ahead and the customers will still be queueing two mins in line and one min at the counter.
McSpotlight is right. McD's is not more or less worthy of this campaign than many other multinationals. Like Geest, for example.
But multinationals are only part of a much wider problem...one that can only be solved at a governmental level. Of course, it should be us that controls the governments, but to what extent is this really true? Is forcing McD's to change their ways any way to stop the 3W debt crisis? Nope.
This is not to say that McD's aren't to blame for gross exploitation of many (including myself!), but I find myself asking these questions :
1) If you don't work for McD's, then don't. I can't stand all the people writing in and complaining about working regular grill for 8 hours solid. Get another job. And if you can't, then thank McD's that they've given you one.
2) Work WITH McD's, not AGAINST it. I fully endorse many of the argeuments found in McSpotlight, but they will get nowhere. This is reality. People power is great, but when has it worked on this kind of scale? Perhaps sugestions to work with McD's with say, for example, the provision of Fair Trade Coffee (as if? I know!). Perhaps this is idealistic, but it is also a little more realisic.
3) McD's isn't to blame. It is part of a unfair system of global trade which unfortunately exists throughout the world. I want to change it. But I do not see slagging off McD's as the solution. I buy FairTrade products, I support global charities and I encourage my friends to do the same.
I know this all sounds like another load of "McD is great" banter. But I am just trying to draw a compromise and do something positive.
I hope you appreciate and respect my views, just as I respect yours.
Let us hope that one day, one some form or another, we can all make a difference.
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
RS.
