Here’s why workers are planning a one-day strike at a west Charlotte McDonald’s

McDonald’s employees in Charlotte plan to join a nationwide, one-day protest this week over the fast-food chain’s handling of sexual harassment allegations.

Employees will walk out at noon Tuesday at 2518 Beatties Ford Rd. as part of a 10-city strike, according to a NC Raise Up news release. Other N.C. cities involved include Durham and Marion.

NC Raise Up, based in Durham, is North Carolina’s branch of the national group, Fight for $15, which advocates for an increase in the federal minimum wage.

“We are overworked, underpaid, and mentally drained,” Travis Archie, a health care worker in Charlotte and member of Fight for $15, said in a statement. “When we use the power of our collective voices, together we hold businesses accountable.”

Several dozen workers in the fast-food, retail and health care industries have signed up to protest, according to NC Raise Up.

“We want to show them that together we stand with them,” Archie said. “They’re not alone in the fight.”

In April, McDonald’s said all of its 39,000 corporate and franchised restaurants in 100 countries will be required to follow new standards to prevent harassment, discrimination, violence and retaliation. The company planned to create new policies, training and reporting systems. The new standards will be required beginning in January, McDonald’s told the Observer in an emailed statement Monday.

McDonald’s employees should feel safe and respected, and that “sexual harassment and assault have no place in any McDonald’s restaurant,” McDonald’s said in the statement. “We know more work is needed to further our workplace ambitions.”

McDonald’s did not say how many of its employees work in Charlotte or North Carolina.

Archie said he hopes McDonald’s and other corporations are listening.

“That seems like a lot of promises and we want to see action,” Archie said of McDonald’s new workplace harassment plan.

Six years ago, McDonald’s workers protested for higher pay and benefits at the same Beatties Ford Road restaurant, the Observer previously reported. The minimum wage in North Carolina is $7.25.