China's senior trade union federation has taken McDonald's, KFC
and Pizza Hut to task for "underpaying" workers in Guangzhou.
After media reports pointed the finger at the fast-food giants,
a senior All China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) official
said: "No company should enjoy special privileges in China.
Irrespective of how big or strong a company is or who owns it, no
company should be allowed to have in-house rules that violate the
country's law."
In an interview with CCTV over the weekend, ACFTU security work
department head Li Shouzhen revealed that the federation would
provide the underpaid workers with free legal help.?
Last week, Guangzhou-based New Express reported that
the major fast-food chains all stood guilty of "violating labor
laws" by underpaying part-time workers, the majority of who are
college students. The report detailed an undercover probe carried
out by the newspaper which discovered that workers in the three
fast-food chains were paid only 60 percent of the nominal wage
while still working overtime.
This year, Guangdong's government set a minimum wage of 7.5 yuan
(US$97 cents) an hour for part-time workers. However, McDonald's
were found to only be paying 4 yuan (US$52 cents), KFC 4.7 yuan
(US$61 cents) and Pizza Hut 5 yuan (US$65 cents) an hour.
McDonald's and Yum! Brands Inc, which owns both KFC and Pizza
Hut have denied any charges of violating labor laws. An
investigation is underway by local labor authorities whose report
is awaited tomorrow.
The ACFTU has delegated the task to its Guangdong branch office,
urging it to "get things clear as soon as possible", Li said.
"If the violations prove to be true, the federation will ask the
companies to correct their wrongdoings," Li said. "If they refuse
to do so, we will help the workers file a case against them."
With support from the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, the
ACFTU will start a new campaign in May targeting companies found in
breach of labor laws, including providing employment without proper
labor contracts, failure to pay wages and underpayment.
Li also called for foreign companies in China to create trade
unions, thus providing them with a platform to resolve
employer-employee disputes.
(China Daily April 2, 2007)