Fast Food Furor – Phase Two Begins
More news on the allegations against McDonalds and KFC for violations of local minimum wage laws. This is all starting to sound familiar as we go through the usual process, as follows:
Phase 1 – allegations made
Phase 2 – consumer/worker groups get involved and press picks up story
Phase 3 – a few demonstrations, maybe legal action threatened
Phase 4 – gov’t gets nervous and pulls the plug, things die down
(I think we are in Phase 2 now – things may get uglier before they get better)
An official with the All China Federation of Trade
Unions said Tuesday the US fast-food chains KFC, McDonald’s and Pizza
Hut have violated China’s Labor Law and they will take action to
protect workers’ interests.
We have asked the Guangdong
Province Federation to probe into the employment of part-time workers
by the U.S. fast-food chains and claim wage compensation on behalf of
the workers involved, said the official.
Other trade unions such as the
Shanghai Trade Union, and the Hubei and Fujian federations have also
made their voices heard.
Hubei Province Federation has asked
subordinate organizations to investigate local foreign [my emphasis] fast food chains
suspected of similar unlawful behavior.
The trade unions will work with
local labor and social security departments to provide legal aid for
workers involved, said the official.
He also revealed that the above two
institutions will carry out an inspection between May and June, aiming
to find out illegal practices in minimum wage paying and employment
contract signing.
A Guangzhou-based newspaper ran a
report last week saying the US fast-food chains are underpaying and
overworking their part-time staff.
The operators of the fast-food giants have moved to defend their employment practices, saying the labor laws are unclear.
McDonald’s has more than 790
restaurants and 50,000 employees on the Chinese mainland and aims to
open 100 new restaurants a year.
Yum Brands, whose 2,000 KFC, Pizza
Hut and Chinese-style East Dawning restaurants in China generate nearly
a third of its global operating profit, has more than 100,000 staff.
Hmmm… First Wal-Mart, now Mickey-Ds and the omnipresent KFC… When will they go after those Taiwanese subcontractors in Guangdong?
BTW, great blog. I’m linking you on my blog as well.
Thanks. I think it’s obvious that double standards apply to this sort of thing and that foreign firms get targeted. It’s really no use complaining about it, though. It’s just part of doing business here, and foreign firms need to be quite conservative and careful. That’s life.
One of the franchise lawyers at my firm told me yesterday that this is also another example of a foreign enterprise tossing the keys to the local managers and telling them to go run the place. Bad idea. Without supervision tied in to the MNC’s standards, you never know what might happen. The local manager is just doing what everyone else in the industry is doing, but someone needs to step in and say, “No. We have to be better than the industry standard.” Good point.