Trade Union Youth Movement, with the support of Trade Union and Fund of Friedrich Ebert conducted large-scale survey for the purpose of studying working conditions of fast food facilities employees. The survey was conducted with employees of the six facilities- “McDonald’s”, “Wendy’s”, “Dunkin Donuts”, “Subway”, “Luca Polare” and “Domino’s Pizza” in the six cities of Georgia- Tbilisi, Batumi, Gori, Rustavi, Zestaponi and Kutaisi. 350 respondents were interviewed.
The main trend was outlined via the study results: labor rights of employees working in the fast food industry are not fully protected.
The survey has revealed a number of violation of rights under the Labor Code: 69% of employees work overtime; average salary in the fast food facilities is GEL494; 75% of employees has to fulfill other duties in addition to theirs; 42% of respondents is not able to fully enjoy break time; 82% of employees do not receive pay when working on holidays; 59% of respondents is not able to fully enjoy vacation and 21% has never used it.
Labor Agreement
The study has determined, that 90% of employees has concluded labor agreement with their organization and 10% has not. 99% of the respondents state that they have written labor agreement. 51% of respondents have their copies of labor agreement and 49% does not own them.
“By this fact, we can conclude, that half of the respondents do not have complete information regarding their labor rights, as well as, the privileges, they can enjoy during their working time, as they do not own their copies of labor agreement”- is written in the conclusion.
“According to the Labor Code, minimum 1 year agreement must be concluded between employee and employer if there exist no grounds for setting up short-term contract, also, labor agreement with probationary period can only be concluded on one occasion, for six months” – state the authors of study.
Work Schedule
Mostly 18-25 years-old people are working in the fast food sector. 63% of the respondents work 5 days a week, 25%- 6 days a week, 8% work 2-4 days a week and 4%- 7 days.
72% of the respondents work 8 hours a day, 23% of employ
yes work 10-12 hours a day and 5% work- 6 hours. Averagely, employees have to work 8.35 hours.
“20% of respondents who work 5 days a week, work 10-12 hours, which can be considered as a violation, as standard working hours for adult employees are 40 hours and 10-12 hours work for 5 days is exceeding the norm”- state the authors of study.
Renumeration
According to the study, 59% of fast food employees are paid 301-500 GEL and 27%- 501-700 GEL, percentage of employees who receive 700-1000 GEL (6%) and more than 1000 GEL (1%) is small.
As a result of survey was determined, that remuneration is lower in regions than in the city where average salary of respondents is 500 GEL and in the cities it is 300 GEL.
53% of McDonald’s employees have salary in amount of 500-700 GEL, also, the same indicator is in “Luca Polare”, where salary of majority (59%) is 500-700 GEL, 60% of Wendy’s employees have 500-700 GEL and 40% of “Domino’s Pizza” workers receive 500-700 GEL, renumeration of 33% of employees of “Dunkin Donuts” is 300-500 GEL.
With this income, 75% of respondents cover personal expenses, 10%- tuition fees, 13%- all the expenses necessary for family and 1% – altogether.
There is no gender difference in the salaries- average salary of male is 472 GEL and 478 GEL for female, which is almost the same.
“The average remuneration in the fast food facilities is 494 GEL, which is relatively high indicator comparing to supermarket chain, where average salary was 362 GEL.
As you know, it is almost impossible to cover family expenses and simultaneously pay tuition fees or other personal expenses with afore-mentioned salary”- is stated in the conclusion.
Overtime Work
69% of respondents work overtime and 31% do not. The majority of the employees are not compensated for this work (46%).
35% of the respondents are given 20-30 minutes for a break, 6%- 10-15 minutes, 55% of the respondents has 1 hour break and 3% does not enjoy a break at all.
“Thereof, we can conclude, that 42% of the respondents does not completely enjoy their own break time”- conclude the study authors.
Vacation
28% of the respondents permanently use their own paid vacation, 13%- rarely, 21%- has never used it and 38% has not used it yet.
It turns out, that the big part of employees in this sector works on the same position only for 6 months and study authors assume, that majority of the respondents have not yet used their vacation for this reason.
40% of the respondents have a vacation for 14 calendar days, 35%- 24 working days, 13%- 1 week and the small part (10%)- one month.
“We can assume, that 21% of the respondents is not able to enjoy paid vacation. 59% of the entire respondents are incompletely using this right.
“According to the Labor Code of Georgia, employee is entitled to take paid vacation- at least 24 working days in a year and in addition, to have at least 15 calendar days a year leave without a pay”- the study suggests.
Sick Leave
35% of the respondents uses sick leave, 65% has never used it.
The respondents list the following reasons regarding not using sick leave:
28% nominate incorrect management system, 37%- absence of substitute, 15% mentions, that they were unable to use sick leave due to personal will of employer, 11%- did not need it, and 3% is not compensated sick leave, therefore, they have no desire to use it.
Bonuses and Extra Pay
57% of the fast-food workers state, that they have bonus system at work and 43% state the opposite.
In case of fulfilling work plan, 72% of the respondents are marked up the bonuses, 22% is given bonuses in case of company’s profit, 5%- is given bonuses twice a year and 2% is grnted bonuses in case of good performance.
Majority, 82% of employees does not receive extra pay while working on holidays, 18% is given extra pay.
Discrimination
Employees, who acknowledged, that they were discriminated at the place of employment, marked out the following signs of discrimination: 27% was discriminated on the grounds of age, 13%- sex and 13% stated, that they were discriminated due to political affiliation and 47% indicated, that they were discriminated by every listed sign.
You can find out the study results on the following link
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