Oakland McDonald’s employees strike due to rodent activity
OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) — The McDonald’s on Jackson Street failed a surprise inspection on Friday. The full health report by the Alameda County Health Department said officials found indications of rat activity including droppings and a dead rat.
The Alameda County Health Department shut down the McDonald’s at 1330 Jackson Street with customers waiting in line. The health inspector on scene noted seven violations at the restaurant in the health report including rodent activity.
The report explained rodent droppings were seen around the water heater, along the wall and rodent traps were spotted. Two holes were seen in the kitchen and a dead rat was found on a trap near the soda syrup boxes.
“It’s way more rats now then it was last month,” said Oscar Rodriguez, a McDonald’s employee.
Rodriguez, who has worked there since 2022, said the closure is needed.
“It’s good because people there won’t be any exposure to infection or get sick by the rats but also, I feel worried as a worker because we are losing those days,” Rodriguez said.
He and other workers were striking but decided to come to work on Friday. They were there when the McDonald’s was forced to close. Rodriguez said they were instructed to stay and clean up the violations.
“They had us wash the floor, and wash everything like the dishes and everything we use in there and cleaning the walls—and they told us to use gloves that’s it and a mask,” Rodriguez said.
Starting Monday, they are resuming their strike until professionals come in to deal with the rats.
“We want McDonald’s to pay our days we are losing because they knew this from a longtime ago and didn’t do anything,” Rodriguez said.
The California Fast Food Workers Union representing the workers said they have notified Mcdonald’s about their concerns with workers having to clean up these violations.
“They asked them to clean the store, they don’t have the necessary materials for them to do it,” said Maria Maldonado, California Fast Food Workers Union statewide director. “They are not trained to clean feces or remove rats. It’s really unsafe. And awful they have to do that.”
KRON4 reached out to McDonald’s for an updated comment but haven’t heard back as of news time. It is not clear when the next inspection is scheduled.
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