FAST FOOD giant McDonald’s signed a legal agreement with the equality watchdog today following concerns that the company failed to handle hundreds of sexual harassment complaints made by staff.

But food industry union BFAWU said the scandal would not be resolved without addressing the insecurity of casualised workers unable to confidently call out management abuse.

The legally binding agreement with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) commits the US chain to several measures to better protect workers in Britain.

It comes after workers raised the alarm over sexual harassment in the restaurants over several years and the company’s failure to deal with the claims.

In 2019, Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) said that at least 1,000 women have been harassed by managers and supervisors.

The union previously raised the alarm over a “toxic culture” in McDonald’s restaurants.

Christine, who worked at a south London branch in 2018, spoke out about her sexual harassment experience which, she said, left her terrified.

She said her manager exposed himself in front of her.

“He pulled his pants down in the stockroom,” she told the BBC.

She said she approached her business manager to raise a complaint, but was told to “get back in the kitchen and work with him.”

Christine described a toxic workplace culture, with managers flirting with more junior staff, and another manager going around “touching everyone’s bum.”

“I saw a lot of things that were not OK,” she said, adding that one manager regularly came up to her and said “inappropriate things.”

She suffered from anxiety and panic attacks and started taking anti-depressants “just to cope with going into work.”

A McDonald’s spokesperson said that Christine’s experience was “completely unacceptable” and urged her to contact them for an investigation.

BFAWU general secretary Sarah Woolley said: “This is not a few bad apples, this is caused by a system of zero-hours contracts.

“When crew members must depend on the goodwill of managers to be allocated hours, when low pay is endemic and working women are expected to live pay cheque to pay cheque, when there’s a culture of cover-up with the use of [non-disclosure agreements] and when McDonald’s continue to victimise members of trade unions …  I’m afraid sexual harassment will continue to be an issue in McDonalds.”

Ranjit O’Mahony, of Thompsons Solicitors, said that any cases it had handled on behalf of BFAWU had been “settled with a confidentiality clause at McDonald’s insistence.”

She said that the firm “wash their hands of legal liability if they possibly can by passing the buck to local managers, and the franchise system they operate for the stores enables them to do so.”

The measures committed to in the EHRC agreement include communicating a “zero-tolerance” approach to sexual harassment, to provide anti-harassment training for its employees, and to improve policies to better respond to complaints.

War on Want said that the agreement to protect staff was due to Christine’s campaigning and support from the BFAWU.

The group tweeted: “Time will tell what impact this agreement has in practice — but this victory demonstrates that solidarity and collective action is our greatest defence against injustice.

“Workers’ protections, conditions and wages only improve when workers organise.”

EHRC chairwoman Baroness Kishwer Falkner said: “We are pleased that McDonald’s has signed this agreement to signal their intent to make their restaurants safe places to work.

“The improvements they put in place can set an example for others to follow, whether in the hospitality industry or elsewhere.”

McDonald’s UK chief executive Alistair Macrow said the company already has a “strong track record” in this area but wants to further improve it.