McDonald's staff are "scared to come to work" at some of the company's restaurants where managers shout and swear at employees, a striking worker has claimed.

Lewis Baker, a crew trainer in Crayford, south-east London, described the "general abuse" suffered by staff at the store, and said "any" McDonald's worker would have experienced the same issues.

He said he felt "intimidated" going to work because managers had "turned the union into a joke", and claimed staff were being "bullied" and that shifts were allocated based on "favouritism".

Mr Baker was one of dozens of McDonald's workers to rally outside the Palace of Westminster calling for wage rises, union rights and an end to zero hour contracts on Monday morning.

He said he hoped McDonald's would listen to the workers and put a stop to staff being "shouted at, sworn at" and being "scared to come to work", adding: "I don't think at any workplace people should feel scared to come to work - we're just trying to pay our bills."

McDonald's said those taking action represented 0.01% of its workforce, adding that the dispute was related to its internal grievance procedures.

A McDonald's fast food restaurant

Mr Baker, 27, told the Press Association: "Staff are being bullied and we're having shifts cut based on whether the manager likes you or not, so if the manager doesn't like you you'll get less shifts. It's just based on favouritism - if they like you it's an easy ride, if they don't they make your life difficult.

"The managers have sworn at us, shouted at us, just general abuse when we get to work. I feel like whatever stress they are under they put on us so it's really unfair.

"If the customers are rude to us we don't have any backing by our managers... It just creates that culture that it's okay for us to be abused at work."

Mr Baker, who has worked for the fast-food chain at two restaurants over five years and earns £7.85 per hour, claimed managers took screenshots if staff posted on social media from union meetings and then sent them round to the area managers.

Video Loading

He went on: "Whenever there's a problem at work they (the management) say 'oh what are you going to do, tell your union?' in a sarcastic way.

"I do feel a little bit intimidated going into work because of the way they're turning it into a joke and allowed to do that online. If we did it we could be sacked for doing something like that."

He said he was one of 12 workers at his store to file a grievance but his was closed without a resolution after five weeks, and the others were not answered "until we balloted for strike action".

"When we balloted for strike action they started to respond to them as quickly as possible."