A Burger King employee is warning customers that the police could be called on them if they’re acting aggressively at the fast food chain come its reopening on Tuesday under Alert Level 3.
Burger King Gisborne Unite Union delegate Halaena McKeague told 1 NEWS she was “hugely concerned” about customer aggression.
She said this was because food was “not going to be fast at all” as the food chain tries to meet demand while keeping staff and customers safe during the pandemic.
“If you are aggressive, do not be surprised if the cops are called on you [for trespassing] because it’s not a time to be a dickhead,” she said, adding that employees had the right to ask customers to leave.
“Trying to keep ourselves and the customer safe is going to put even more pressure on us. Tensions are going to be really high in the kitchen and you’re not going to get fast food.
“We are truly a family and I just want them to be safe and healthy,” Ms McKeague said of her co-workers.
Some businesses can re-open from Tuesday, provided they adhere to strict safety guidelines and social distancing to prevent Covid-19 spreading.
She said she had concerns that Burger King had only “glossed over” its safe working practices.
“There are no specifics, and all the specific information that I have, I got from the union.”
Ms McKeague said her store was going to be doing the following to prevent the virus spreading:
However, she said the chain’s drive through practices were “hugely concerning”.
“They’ll give us a tray. We put the food and the drink on one end of the tray, we hold the other end, and we hand that out the window, which is not two metres away from the customer.”
Ms McKeague was also concerned about the lack of training on anything apart from hand-washing.
“Where is the training on social distancing? Where’s the training on how to hand out food while keeping yourself and the customer safe? There’s nothing and it’s not surprising to me… it’s so irresponsible.”
She said breaks were also going to be “a huge issue” because of reduced staffing.
Antares Restaurant Group, who owns Burger King in New Zealand, said today that "we believe this is in the best interests of our customers, our employees and all creditors and we remain confident in the long-term prospects of the Burger King business in New Zealand and the strength of the Burger King brand.
"The health and safety of our team members, guests and communities remains our top priority so we are strengthening our already rigorous procedures around food safety, cleanliness and hygiene.
"Additional health and safety measures have been put in place including more frequent handwashing and sanitising of all surfaces, contactless payment through PayWave, clear physical distancing guidelines, and increased personal protection for our team members."
Unite Union represents thousands of employees at various fast food chains including at Burger King, KFC and Carl's Jr.
Burker King New Zealand was earlier this month placed into receivership due to the impact of the lockdown.
The receivers said with the support of creditors they wanted to get the business back up and running, and then sell it.
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