McDonald's in the UK overlooked signs of modern slavery for years as human trafficking rings forced victims into forced labor in the burger joint and nearby bakery, according to a report.
Six members of a family-run gang in the Czech Republic have been found guilty of forcing 16 victims to work up to 100 hours a week. Even though the gangsters pocketed the cash and spent it on luxury cars, gold jewelry, and real estate. According to the BBC.
According to the report, the victim's employer overlooked a number of red flags, including multiple employees sending their income to the same bank account or using the same home address. It is said that
“I am really concerned that so many red flags were missed and that companies did not do enough to protect their vulnerable workers,” said Dame, a former independent anti-slavery commissioner. Sarah Thornton told the BBC.
Nine of the victims were forced to work at McDonald's in Cambridgeshire, and nine worked for Specialty Flatbreads, a bakery company with a factory that supplies supermarkets in the UK. Two of the victims worked at both McDonald's and Specialty Flatbread.
According to the BBC, most of the victims were homeless or struggling with addiction while living in the Czech Republic.
Although the victims were earning at least the minimum wage while working in the UK, the gang members stole almost their entire salaries. The report said they gave victims only a few pounds a day and forced them to live in squalid conditions, including leaky huts and unheated caravans.
The victims were captured several times while trying to escape and return home.
The program lasted at least seven years but ended in October 2019. The victims alerted authorities in the Czech Republic, who passed the information on to British police.
The report said the victims' employers overlooked numerous signs of modern slavery over the years.
At least four victims' wages, totaling about $288,000, were funneled into a single account controlled by the gang at McDonald's restaurants, the report said.
Because the victims did not speak English, one of the gang members applied for jobs and was allowed to be present as an “interpreter” during the interview, the report said.
The victim worked 70 hours a week, 100 hours a week, at McDonald's. One of the victims had been on duty for 30 hours, the report said.
The report said the nine victims, who worked at the bakery, used the same London home address while working.
Sergeant Chris Acourt told the BBC that companies had missed a “huge opportunity” to identify and report slavery sooner.
The gang, led by brothers Zdenek and Ernest Drebenak, withheld the victims' passports and threatened them with violence.
“We were scared,” one of the victims, Pavel, told the BBC. “If we try to run away and go home, [Ernest Drevenak] We had a lot of friends in town and half the town were his friends. ”
Met Police officer Melanie Lillywhite told the BBC that the gangs “treated their victims like livestock”, feeding them “enough to survive”.
The victims were not allowed to use cell phones or the internet, did not speak English, and were monitored on video surveillance.
Pavel said he believes McDonald's (where some of the victims worked from 2015 to 2019) should bear some of the responsibility for his enslavement.
“We feel exploited, in part, because McDonald's hasn't taken action,” he said. “I thought if I worked at McDonald's, they would be a little more careful, and they would notice that.”
The company told the BBC that current store franchisee Ahmet Mustafa was only “fully exposed” when he spoke to authorities.
McDonald's launched a partnership with anti-slavery charity Unseen earlier this year, saying it had “taken action” to better “detect and deter” future risks.
A spokesperson for McDonald's UK and Ireland told the Post: “Together with our franchisees, we look forward to playing our part in working with governments, NGOs and wider society to combat the evil of modern slavery.” spoke.
None of the supermarkets that used Specialty Flatbread as a supplier were aware of the abuse. The victim worked at the factory from 2012 to 2019.
Sainsbury's announced in 2016 that it had ceased use of the factory. Other companies ended their partnerships only after police rescued the victims in 2019.
Specialty Flatbreads director Andrew Charanbooth told the BBC he supported the police and prosecutors.
“From our point of view, we didn't violate the law in any way. Certainly, in that there might have been solid evidence signs and things like that, probably what you say. That would be correct. But it was something for the human resources department to deal with on the front lines.”
The company did not respond to requests for further comment.
The British Retail Consortium told the BBC: “It is important that the retail industry learns from examples like this and continues to step up its due diligence.”
