Professor Tony Royle, University of York

What are the challenges associated with building effective global union campaigns? One way to answer this question is to examine the development of the ‘Fight for 15’ campaign. The campaign, which began in 2012 in New York, went global in 2014. It involved low-paid workers around the world.  Professor Royle will discuss why the McDonald’s Corporation was chosen as the key target of the campaign and the challenges associated with organizing workers in the international fast-food industry.  ‘Fight for 15’ has been strongly driven by SEIU, the labor union.  Aspects of the international campaign reflect SEIU’s agenda and its willingness to commit considerable resources.  SEIU has also tried to link the international campaign to workforce issues in different nations.

Professor Tony Royle is a professor at the University of York and previously held posts at the University of Bradford, UK; the University of Galway (NUIG), Ireland; and Nottingham Business School, UK. Tony is the author of Working for McDonald’s in Europe and co-author and co-editor of Labour Relations in the Global Fast-Food Industry. He has been an advisor for the European Parliament, the International Labour Organization and various national unions His work is used as a resource for teaching in many universities around the world. Some of it has been published in German, Italian and Spanish.