The BBC has uncovered a case where 16 victims from the Czech Republic were forced to work at a McDonald's branch and a factory supplying major supermarkets. Well-established signs of slavery, including paying wages into one bank account, were missed for over four years.
Signs that modern slavery victims were being forced to work at a McDonald’s branch and a factory supplying bread products to major supermarkets were missed for years, the BBC has found.
Six members of a family-run human trafficking network from the Czech Republic have been convicted in two criminal trials, which were delayed by the Covid pandemic. While they lived on a few pounds a day in cramped accommodation - including a leaking shed and an unheated caravan - police discovered their work was funding luxury cars, gold jewellery and a property in the Czech Republic for the gang.
Victims were unable to speak English, and job applications were completed by a gang member, who was even able to sit-in on job interviews as a translator Det Sgt Chris Acourt, who led the Cambridgeshire Police investigation, said there were “massive opportunities” that were missed to detect the slavery and alert authorities sooner.
The gang - led by brothers Ernest and Zdenek Drevenak - confiscated the passports of all their victims and controlled them through fear and violence, police found. Like most McDonald’s, the Caxton outlet - on the A428 - is a franchise, which means an independent business pays the fast-food giant to allow it to run the restaurant.
The company said it cares “deeply” about all employees and promised that - working with franchisees - it would “play our part alongside government, NGOs and wider society to help combat the evils of modern slavery”. It said it had made three site visits, but focused solely on food safety, and had stopped using the factory in 2020.
M&S said it suspended and delisted the company in 2020 after it “became aware of potential breaches of ethical labour standards via the modern slavery helpline”. He added: “From our perspective we didn’t break the law in any way, having said that, yes, maybe you’re right in that maybe there were certain telltale signs or things like that, but that would have been for the HR department who were dealing with it on the front line.”
Modern Slavery Mcdonald's Supermarkets Human Trafficking Exploitation
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