The protest was part of a national day of action organised by Unite Union against the contracts and the companies that use them. Zero-hour contracts, while not defined in legislation, are commonly understood to mean any contracts where workers are expected to work regularly rostered shifts but not guaranteed any weekly hours, Unite national director Mike Treen said this week.
About 200 protesters in total demonstrated in Wellington and Auckland yesterday morning, and a protest in Christchurch last night drew about 30 people.
Mr Treen estimated ''a few hundred'' workers were on strike countrywide.
Dunedin city councillor Aaron Hawkins, who once worked at McDonald's, was at yesterday's Dunedin protest.
''The momentum is gathering steam, or we wouldn't see so many businesses giving into public pressure,'' he said.
''We have to keep the pressure on.''
Initially, yesterday's countrywide day of action was planned to target Burger King as well, but those protests and strikes were called off as a display of ''good will and good faith'' after the company made a ''substantial'' offer on security of hours, Mr Treen said.
The offer would go beyond the agreement Unite signed with Restaurant Brands this week - guaranteeing employees 80% of average hours worked over the previous three-month period - and move towards guaranteeing employees set shifts, week by week, he said.
In a statement earlier this week, a McDonald's spokeswoman said: ''We are not surprised they have found fault with our offer and still intend to strike on Wednesday, given they already had plans in place to do so.''
''We're committed to moving away from zero hours contracts and we're committed to bargaining and working through the detail with Unite union,'' the spokeswoman added yesterday.
During negotiations with Unite this week, McDonald's made an offer where 80% of employees' average rostered hours would be guaranteed. Mr Treen dismissed the offer as ''a joke'', saying it would not give workers more job security because a significant percentage of McDonald's employees' weekly hours were unrostered.
''Workers usually work 20% more hours than they are rostered. By offering 80% of 80% we are getting to a pretty small number,'' he said.
At the protest yesterday, Cr Hawkins commented, ''I don't know if making a [collective agreement] offer public is good faith bargaining''.
No Dunedin employees of McDonald's or Wendy's were on strike yesterday.
