San Francisco McDonald's Workers Protest Demanding Better Protections and Pay

About 60 people entered a McDonald’s in San Francisco’s Mission District on Feb 19, 2026, wielding megaphones and posters to demand $15 an hour, stronger workplace protections and the right to unionize. At a separate protest at the corner of Jackson and 14th Street, organizers said roughly 40 staff faced job loss after their location received ten days’ notice of closure, and those workers asked McDonald’s to relocate them to other stores.

Inside the Mission District store, community leaders and workers spoke for about 15 minutes before police ordered protesters out, and the crowd continued chanting outside for roughly 45 minutes. Daisy Gomez led call-and-response chants over a megaphone, shouting “Trabajadores unidos, jamas sera vencido! McDonald's, escucha, estamos en la lucha!” which organizers translated as “Workers united, will never be divided! McDonald's, listen! We are in this fight!” A store manager declined to be interviewed and asked that the handful of customers inside not be bothered.

The demonstrations brought personal stories of low pay and insecurity. Guadalupe Salazar, 37, plans to walk off her job at a McDonald’s in Oakland’s Eastmont Town Center; she earns $8 an hour and had not had a raise in about 18 months. Shantel Walker, who has worked intermittently at a Papa John’s since 1999, said she still earns $8.50 an hour and described survival as “a real struggle to survive.” Chicago organizer Karla Altmayer framed part of the action around sexual-harassment protections, saying, “We can no longer accept that one out of two workers experience workplace sexual violence under their watch.” Restaurant worker Ali Baker added, “When you feel that your livelihood is threatened, and you feel like you can’t bring home a paycheck, it can be really scary.”

Organizers positioned the San Francisco events as part of a wider Fight for $15 mobilization that began in late 2012 and has staged multiple national actions. Organizing leaders argued the pressure has already produced employer concessions; Kendall Fells, organizing director for Fight for $15, said a recent McDonald’s pay bump “shows the workers are winning.” Organizers and allied unions cited a SEIU-funded study estimating that low wages force working families to rely on $153 billion in public assistance each year. Counts of participating cities varied by action - organizers referenced roughly 200 cities for some mobilizations, while other tallies tied to anniversary or one-day strikes ranged from 10 cities for targeted #MeToo-themed walkouts to as many as 230 cities and college campuses for broader campaigns.

McDonald’s defended its practices in a statement, saying it had “strong policies, procedures and training in place” to prevent sexual harassment and that it had engaged prevention and response experts “to evolve our policies so everyone who works at McDonald’s does so in a secure environment every day.” The company also said it is “committed to providing our employees with opportunities to succeed,” offering “advancement opportunities, competitive pay and benefits.” The National Restaurant Association characterized the demonstrations as “a campaign engineered by national labor groups” and said most protesters were union workers and “relatively few” employees have participated in past actions.

Back at Jackson and 14th Street, California Fast Food Workers Union organizer Maria Maldonado urged McDonald’s to close the store “on good terms,” warning that ten days’ notice was insufficient and recounting workers who “were crying when they heard the location was closing and will now have to struggle this holiday.” Organizers said they will continue pressing McDonald’s on relocations, harassment protections and wage policy in coming weeks.