Protesters leafleted staff at a Huddersfield town centre restaurant as part of a campaign against low pay and zero-hour contracts in the fast food industry.

McDonald’s at John William Street was one of nine restaurants across Yorkshire to be targeted yesterday in the Fast Food Rights campaign, which has been initiated by the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union. Other demonstrations included ones at McDonald’s outlets in Bradford, Leeds, Shefield, Wakefield and York.

Sam Vickers, BFAWU organising regional secretary, said “Fast food workers have been unfairly treated for years. BFAWU alongside others in Fast Food Rights aim to stop this unfair treatment by ending zero-hour contracts, fighting for a living wage of £10 per hour and ending the youth rates of pay”.

A spokesperson for McDonald’s said: “We fully support the National Minimum Wage - all of our employees earn more than the National Minimum Wage and qualify for a range of benefits including holiday allowance, employee discounts and access to a full range of training and nationally recognised qualifications.

“We employ 97,000 people in the UK across 1,200 restaurants and the majority of our restaurant staff are employed on an hourly-paid basis. We pride ourselves on being a flexible employer and for many of our employees that is why they have chosen us as a place of work.

“Employee hours are scheduled in advance and we never ask people to be ‘on call’ or restrict people to working for us exclusively. If shifts become available due to staff illness or other circumstances, employees may be offered additional hours if they would like to work.”