A McDonald’s in the United Kingdom ignored signs of modern slavery for years, while a human trafficking ring forced victims to work at the burger joint as well as a nearby bread factory, according to a report.
Six members of a family-run gang from the Czech Republic have been convicted of forcing 16 victims to work up to 100 hours a week – even as the gang pocketed their cash and used it for luxury goods Spent it on cars, gold jewelery and real estate. according to bbc,
The report said the victims’ employers ignored several warning signs – such as multiple employees having their earnings sent to the same bank account or using the same home address.
Dame Sarah Thornton, the former independent anti-slavery commissioner, told the BBC, “It really concerns me that a lot of red flags were missed, and perhaps companies didn’t take enough steps to protect vulnerable workers.”
Nine victims were forced to work at McDonald’s in Cambridgeshire and nine worked at Specialty Flatbreads – a bread company whose factories supplied UK supermarkets. Two of the victims worked at both McDonald’s and Specialty Flatbreads.
According to the BBC, most of the victims were homeless or struggling with drug addiction while living in the Czech Republic.
While the victims earned at least minimum wage while working in the UK, the gang members stole almost all of their wages. Reports said they paid their victims just a few pounds a day and forced them to live in squalid conditions, including leaky sheds and unheated caravans.
The victims were recaptured more than once when they escaped and tried to go home.
The scheme – which ran for at least seven years – ended in October 2019. The victims alerted authorities in the Czech Republic, who passed the information on to the British police force.
According to the report, the victims’ employers had ignored many signs of modern slavery for years.
At the McDonald’s restaurant, the wages of at least four victims – totaling approximately $288,000 – were being deposited into a single account, which was controlled by the gang, the report said.
The report states that the victims were unable to speak English – so their job applications were filled out by one of the gang members, who was also allowed to sit in as a “translator” during the interviews.
The victims worked 70- and 100-hour work weeks at McDonald’s. One victim had worked 30-hour shifts, the report said.
According to the report, the nine victims, who worked at a bread factory, used the same home address in London during their employment.
Detective Sergeant Chris Acord told the BBC that companies missed “huge opportunities” to identify and report slavery sooner.
The gang – which was led by brothers Zdenek and Ernest Drevnek – withheld the passports of their victims and intimidated them through violence.
“We were scared,” Powell, one of the victims, told the BBC. “If we had to run away and go home, [Ernest Drevenak] He has a lot of friends in our town, he had friends in half the town.”
Metropolitan Police officer Melanie Lillywhite told the BBC that the gang “treated their victims like animals” and gave them “just enough food to keep them alive”.
The victims were not allowed to use their phones or the Internet, did not speak English and were monitored by video surveillance.
Powell said she believed McDonald’s — where some of the victims worked between 2015 and 2019 — should bear some of the blame for their enslavement.
“I feel partially exploited by McDonald’s because they didn’t take action,” he said. “I thought if I was working for McDonald’s, they would be a little more alert, that they would notice it.”
The company told the BBC that the franchisee of the current location – Ahmet Mustafa – was “exposed in its entirety” only after he spoke to authorities.
McDonald’s said it launched a partnership with anti-slavery charity Unseen this year, and has taken “action” to better “detect and prevent” future risks.
“Along with our franchisees, we will play our part with government, NGOs and wider society to help tackle the evils of modern slavery,” a McDonald’s UK and Ireland spokesperson told The Post.
None of the supermarkets that used Specialty Flatbread as a supplier noticed the abuse. The victims worked in the factories between 2012 and 2019.
Sainsbury’s said it stopped using the factory in 2016. Other companies ended their partnership in 2019 only after the victims were rescued by the police.
Andrew Charalambous, director of Specialty Flatbreads, told the BBC he supported the police and prosecution.
“From our perspective we have not broken the law in any way, having said that, yes, maybe you’re right that maybe there were some special prompts or things like that, but that’s up to the human resources department. Those who were on the front lines would have to deal with it,” he said.
The company did not respond to requests for further comment.
The British Retail Consortium told the BBC, “It is vital that the retail industry continues to strengthen due diligence by learning from cases such as this.”
