Association for a More Just Society (AJS)

Yazmin Zuniga : Surviving a Fast-Food Nightmare

You trample on the poor and force him to give you grain. Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine. —Amos 5:11

Yazmin was pregnant. Or at least she thought she might be, the 22-year-old cashier at a Popeye's Chicken restaurant in downtown Tegucigalpa excitedly told a co-worker.

Yazmin had started working at Popeye's a year and a half ago. The income wasn't much, but it helped Yazmin pay for classes and materials at the university, contribute part of her three younger brothers' tuition and school supplies, and supplement the meager income her mother earned working at a bakery in the lower-class neighborhood where they lived. (Dad was out of the picture.)

For the first year and half work at Popeye's was fine, although from the start there were a few odd goings-on. For example, the fact that the “job finding agent” who charged Yazmin more than a week's pay for helping her find employment at Popeye's turned out to be the Popeye's manager in charge of training new employees.

Things started going downhill when Yazmin's manager was replaced. Even though Yazmin was an exemplary worker, winning a number of employee awards, the new manager took a disliking to her and began assigning her far more tasks than were possible for one person to carry out, while at the same time letting other employees stand around doing nothing.

Once when Yazmin reported to the manager that several co-workers were stealing from the cash-registers, the manager got angry with her and told her not to tell anyone else rather than thank her for her honesty.

Yazmin's manager threatened that if she complained about anything he would change her hours or transfer her to another restaurant—making it difficult for her to continue her studies.

Then came the worst. The co-worker to whom Yazmin had confided her possible pregnancy let it slip to the training manager who had hired Yazmin. The manager exploded. She called Yazmin an idiot and a prostitute, humiliating her in front of customers who could hear every word. Then she ordered Yazmin to take a pregnancy test—that Yazmin would have to pay for, of course.

Sobbing, Yazmin went to the pharmacy and did as told. The test turned out negative (Yazmin later discovered cysts in her uterus were responsible for the changes in her body that had made her suspect she was pregnant). But the abuse didn't stop: the training manager accused her of falsifying the test.

Eventually the training manager relented, but things didn't improve for Yazmin. When she brought in a stamped, sealed letter from the university to prove that she had English classes on Saturday mornings, and therefore could not work Saturday morning shifts, managers accused her of having fabricated it, seal and all. When she felt sick, managers told her not to use her employer-paid health insurance, even though she had a legal right and a clear need to.

By August of this year Yazmin couldn't stand any more abuse. She put in her notice that she was quitting. The fact that Popeye's at least paid her the small amount of severance benefits it owed her was of little comfort after all the poor treatment Yazmin had suffered.

There are surely fast-food workers in Honduras who have more positive experiences than Yazmin did. But stories like Yazmin's are far too common among employees of fast-food restaurants in Honduras , including those like Popeye's that are owned by Honduran fast-food conglomerate Intur (Industrias Turísticas).

The Association for a More Just Society (AJS)'s Honduran partner organization, ASJ, has provided Yazmin with expert legal advice and told her story on Revistazo.com. ASJ has been providing such services for mistreated fast-food workers for over three years. These efforts have led to some improvements: for example, employees report that conditions have improved significantly at a Burger King restaurant that the Ministry of Labor recently inspected at ASJ's insistence.

But other fast-food workers recently told ASJ they were harassed and even fired simply for attending an educational presentation about Honduran labor law.

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