Czech Nationals Among Modern Slavery Victims at UK McDonald’s

McDonald’s employed victims of modern slavery, an investigation has found.

A criminal gang forced 16 victims to work at a branch of the burger chain in Caxton, Cambridgeshire, where they were exploited for years before police intervened.

One victim was said to have worked a 30-hour shift, despite the UN’s International Labour Organization saying excessive overtime is an indicator of forced labour.

The victims, whose passports were confiscated, were also forced to work in a bread factory in Hertfordshire which supplied the Co-op, Asda, M&S, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose.

A criminal network led by brothers Ernest and Zdeněk Dreveňák trafficked victims from the Czech Republic and forced them to work between 70 and 100 hours a week. The two brothers were convicted in relation to this.

While victims 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.

On several occasions, victims escaped and fled home only to be tracked down and trafficked back to the UK.

Ernest Dreveňák

The victims were all either homeless, unemployed or in very low paid jobs in the Czech Republic when they were approached individually by associates of the couple.

Other warning signs of modern slavery which were overlooked included victims who were unable to speak English and job applications completed by gang members, who sat-in on job interviews as translators.

Ernest Dreveňák

McDonald’s UK said it cared “deeply” about all employees and promised that, working with franchisees, it would play its “part alongside government, NGOs and wider society to help combat the evils of modern slavery”.

The company also said it had since commissioned an independent review and had taken action to improve its ability to “detect and deter potential risks, such as shared bank accounts, excessive working hours, and reviewing the use of interpreters in interviews”.