McDonalds location employed modern slaves in human trafficking ring for years, overlooked warning signs: report

A McDonald’s in the United Kingdom missed signs of modern slavery for years while a human trafficking gang 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 as many as 100 hours a week — even as the gang pocketed their cash and spent it on luxury cars, gold jewelry and real estate, according to the BBC.The victims’ employers overlooked a number of warning signs – like multiple employees having their earnings sent to the same bank account or using the same home addresses, the report said.“It really concerns me that so many red flags were missed, and that maybe the companies didn’t do enough to protect vulnerable workers,” Dame Sara Thornton, the former independent anti-slavery commissioner, told the BBC. Nine victims were forced to work at a McDonald’s in Cambridgeshire and nine worked at Specialty Flatbreads – a bread company with factories that supplied UK supermarkets.Two of the victims worked at both the McDonald’s and Specialty Flatbreads.Most of the victims had been homeless or struggling with addiction while living in the Czech Republic, according to the BBC.While the victims earned at least a minimum wage while working in the UK, the gang members stole nearly all of their pay.

They gave their victims only a few pounds a day and forced them to live in squalid conditions, including a leaking shed and unheated caravan, the report said.The victims were recaptured more than once when they escaped and tried to make it home.The scheme – which lasted at least seven years – ended in October 2019.The victims had alerted authorities in the Czech Republic, who passed the information to the British police force.The victims’ employers had overlooked numerous signs of modern slavery for years, according to the report.At the McDonald’s restaurant, at least four victims’ wages – totaling...