McDonald's is investigating allegations of labour abuse at a mainland factory after the Sunday Morning Post uncovered claims workers were being paid well below the minimum wage.
The McDonald's probe comes after senior executives from the fast-food giant flew into Hong Kong for a meeting where they laid down the law to mainland toy factory operators. The factory owners were warned that exploitative employment practices would not be tolerated.
The latest investigation by McDonald's comes three months after child labour was exposed in another factory run by one of the burger giant's sub-contractors, City Toys Ltd.
McDonald's corporate spokesman, Walt Riker, yesterday confirmed an investigation was under way into the latest claims.
Mr Riker was in Hong Kong yesterday for the meeting with factory owners. The three-day session, which ended on Friday, was the first of its kind and brought 110 factory operators, sourcing agencies and auditors face-to-face with senior McDonald's management led by the company's director of global social compliance, Dan Chally.
Last week, workers among the 2,000-strong workforce at Chit Tat Industrial (Shenzhen) Co Ltd told the Post they were being paid as little as 11 yuan (HK$10) to 21 yuan a day, including overtime. This translates into monthly salaries ranging from 300 to 700 yuan for a 17-hour day and seven-day week. The legal minimum pay in this district of Shenzhen is 419 yuan a month for working eight hours a day, five days a week.