RTUC Stands Firm Against Homophobic Chicken Chain

Within a day of the opening of Britain's first branch of Chick-fil-A in Reading on 10 October 2019, Reading Pride, backed by Reading Trades Union Council (RTUC), Reading & District Labour Party (RDLP) and other supporters announced a protest outside the entrance of The Oracle Shopping Centre. The protest was staged on 19 October, the day after The Oracle announced the fried chicken business would be leaving the mall once its six month trial lease came to an end.

The Reading Pride leaflet

Chick-fil-A CEO, Dan Cathy, has been vocal in opposition to same-sex marriage and the firm has made donations to fundamentalist Christian groups which practice conversation therapy and have ties to homophobic regimes in which homosexuality is illegal, such as Uganda. When challenged on these positions, the firm's spokespeople have declined to retract the actions or apologise.

Paul Britt, Chair of Reading Pride, opens the addresses

The event involved a gathering outside the entrance of The Oracle, overlooked by the Chick-fil-A window, with speakers addressing the crowd and passers-by using a loudhailer and a mobile public address system. Speeches were punctuated by periods of anti-Chick chanting by the crowd and music from the sound system.

David McMullen (GMB), Secretary of RTUC

Once the protesters gathered outside The Oracle, Paul Britt, Chair of Reading Pride, outlined Chick-fil-A's homophobic track record and thanked the supporters of the protest for showing their opposition in such large numbers, estimated at around 150 people.

Stephen Ireland (UK Pride Organisers' Network)

Giving the event a national perspective, Stephen Ireland, the Communications Officer for UK Pride Organisers' Network, also spoke, rousing the audience in a series of calls-and-response, asserting Chick-fil-A's presence to be unwelcome and assuring the company that their six months in Reading will be their only presence in the UK.

Two speakers, Cllr Sarah Hacker (RDLP/
Unite) and John Partington (TSSA/RDLP)

Reading Trades Union Council provided two speakers. John Partington (TSSA), RTUC Assistant Secretary, entreated his listeners to not only hold their employers to their diversity and inclusion policies, but to ask them what practically they were doing to broaden the diversity of their workforce, what recruitment strategies and interview techniques they were using to welcome talent from all groups in society. John also encouraged workers to lobby their employers to sponsor and be active in diversity events such as Pride. He also suggested those assembled form community groups within their workplaces and ensure they influence employers' policies in the realms of inclusion and flexibility. Don't rely on employers to hand down policy - workers must be engaged in producing it themselves and seeing that it is implemented.

David McMullen (GMB), RTUC Secretary, responded to a challenge from John Hoggett who asked what trade unions were doing for the LGBT+ community. David encouraged the LGBT+ community to join and become actively involved in trade unions, working with others to ensure all workers receive fair treatment from their employers.

From RDLP, Cllrs Sarah Hacker (Unite) and Karen Rowland spoke. Sarah asserted her pride at being a patron of Reading Pride and was pleased at The Oracle's response to condemnation of Chick-fil-A. She said she was keen to work with The Oracle's management to put in place improved vetting processes for prospective lessees going forward and she hoped Reading Pride could play a consultaative role partnership with The Oracle.

Sarah's sentiments were also contained in an open letter published by the following Reading Labour councillors, questioning The Oracles exercise of due diligence but welcoming the steps being taken to end Chick-fil-A's time in Reading as soon as practicable: Cllrs Adele Barnett-Ward, Rachel Eden, Debs Edwards, Ellie Emberson, Paul Gittings, Sarah Hacker, Graeme Hoskin, Sophia James, Micky Leng, Emmett McKenna, Chris Maskell and Karen Rowland.

Kevin Brandstatter and Nikki Dancey
(both GMB), leafletting for the event

The protest was a testament to Reading's community spirit and overarching sense of tolerance and respect, with a range of organisations and individuals coming together to defend the town's culture of diversity and inclusion. With John Partington (TSSA), David McMullen, Nikki Dancey and Kevin Brandstatter (all GMB) representing RTUC, the trade union movement showed itself to be central to the struggles of the town.