McDonald’s to give 4,000 poor students jobs this summer

Popular fast-food chain McDonald’s will hire nearly 4,000 poor students for its summer jobs program, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said Wednesday.

Baldoz said in a statement that the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and McDonald’s are working through the Special Program of Employment for Students (SPES) to help 3,900 students get summer jobs and support for their studies in the form of education vouchers.

“A total of 3,900 SPES beneficiaries will get a chance to work with the global fast-food chain,” Baldoz said.

Baldoz said she and officials of Golden Arches Development Corp., McDonald’s franchise holder in the Philippines, will sign a memorandum of agreement for the SPES on March 28.

The SPES aims to help poor but deserving students to pursue their education by encouraging employment of all qualified high school, college, vocational or technical students, and out-of-school youth with partner companies, Baldoz said.

Under the agreement with McDonald’s, SPES beneficiaries will be working for a minimum of four hours to a maximum of eight hours a day, six days a week, and receive salaries not less than the prevailing minimum wage in the region where they will be employed.

Sixty percent of their salaries will be paid in cash by McDonald’s and the remaining 40 percent will be in the form of education vouchers issued by the DOLE for the payment of tuition and books in any secondary, tertiary or vocational institutions.

Following the successful pilot-testing of the SPES project in 44 McDonald’s branches in November and December last year, McDonald’s informed Baldoz that the project will be rolled out in all McDonald’s branches nationwide.