| Associated Press
Cleveland – The black owner of 14 McDonald’s franchises in Ohio says one of the world’s largest restaurant chains has shown more favorable treatment to white owners and has denied him the opportunity to buy restaurants in wealthier communities, according to a rights process. civilians opened on Tuesday in a federal court in Youngstown.
The lawsuit brought by Herbert Washington, 69, a Flint native and former Michigan athletics star, who played for parts of two seasons with Oakland A’s in the mid-1970s, said the company’s discriminatory practices based in Chicago led to a $ 700,000 sales gap between black-owned and white-owned franchises.
The number of black franchise owners has dropped from 377 in 1998 to 186 today, while the total number of stores has more than doubled to 40,000, the suit said.
“By relegating black owners to older stores in the toughest neighborhoods, McDonald’s ensured that black franchisees would never reach the levels of success that white franchisees could expect,” the suit said.
“Black franchisees must spend more to operate their stores, while white franchisees are able to enjoy all the benefits of their work,” the process said.
More than 50 former Black McDonald’s franchise owners made claims similar to those in Washington in a lawsuit filed against the company in September, saying they have been forced to sell about 200 stores in the past decade.
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During a videoconference on Tuesday, Washington said it had been battling a two-tier system since buying its first franchise in Rochester, New York, 40 years ago. Washington once owned 27 restaurants and said it was forced by McDonald’s to sell seven stores in recent years to white owners.
He now owns 12 restaurants in northeastern Ohio and two in Pennsylvania. He blames his defense on behalf of Black McDonald’s owners for his problems with the company.
“McDonald’s pointed me to extinction,” said Washington. “The bows are in large-scale retaliation mode against me.”
McDonald’s released a statement on Tuesday denying Washington’s claims. The company said Washington is “facing business challenges” for which the company “has significantly invested in its organization”, while offering it “multiple opportunities over several years to resolve these problems”.
“This situation is the result of years of mismanagement by Mr. Washington, whose organization has failed to meet many of our standards for people, operations, guest satisfaction and reinvestment,” the statement said.