Amid Protest Plans, McDonald's to Ban Media from Shareholder Meeting

With thousands of workers planning to descend on McDonald’s annual shareholder meeting on May 21 to demand higher wages and fairer treatment, the fast food giant has announced it will ban all media from the corporate event—a move that union leaders called “extremely shocking and troubling.”

“We can’t think of a single other company who has dared to ban the press from an annual meeting,” the AFL-CIO told the Guardian on Monday. “What does the company have to hide?”

“We call on McDonald’s to reverse their decision and allow the media,” Vineeta Anand, the AFL-CIO chief investment research analyst, told the Guardian. “Sunshine is the best disinfectant, when you shine a light on a company it changes their behaviour. They are acting like some sort of secret society.”

“McDonald’s is not an insignificant company, they are one of the nation’s best-known household names and it is extremely shocking and troubling that a company of its size would ban the press,” Anand added.

Reporters will only be able to watch the event via livestream. The company has previously banned media from its shareholder meetings, but this year’s decision is unusual because it was ordered by McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook, who has previously said he wants to reshape the corporation into a “modern, progressive burger company.”

A McDonald’s spokesperson, Heidi Baker, said the move was not done as a response to the upcoming Fight for $15 demonstrations, but to “accommodate our valued shareholders.”