Modern slavery in Great Britain Clan made men slave at McDonald's for years

Over a period of four years, 16 Czech workers in the UK became victims of modern slavery. They were forced to work under catastrophic conditions - and unnoticed.

For four years, 16 people were victims of modern slavery in the UK. A clan forced a total of 16 people to work in a McDonald's outlet and a factory that supplied bread products to supermarkets such as Asda, Co-op, M&S, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose.

The victims, all from the Czech Republic, were systematically exploited over four years, while signs of forced labor at the companies went unnoticed, BBC writes.

Among the clear warning signs was that the wages of four victims were transferred to the same bank account. The bank account belonged to the gang members. This went unnoticed for a long time. The victims had to live in cramped and sometimes unacceptable accommodation - including a leaky shed and an unheated caravan.

Police discovered that the gang used the workers' wages to buy luxury goods such as expensive cars, gold jewelry and a property in the Czech Republic. While the clan controlled their victims with violence and fear.

Dramatic working conditions for the victims

It was not until 2019 that the fear of those affected came to an end when some victims contacted the police in the Czech Republic. They then informed their British colleagues. However, the abuse had been going on for at least four years, as a BBC investigation revealed.

The victims were particularly vulnerable, many of them homeless or addicted to drugs, and although they earned the legal minimum wage, almost all of their wages were pocketed by the perpetrators.

The conditions under which the victims had to work are particularly alarming. One victim reported that he worked 70 hours a week at McDonald's without ever seeing his full wages. Some even worked up to 100 hours a week. One particularly harrowing case involves a worker who had to work a 30-hour shift.

The companies take a stand

The question arises: why did the clear signs go unnoticed for so long?

McDonald's UK said in a statement that it had since improved its systems to identify "potential risks" more quickly. UK supermarkets Asda, Tesco, Waitrose and M&S said they had ceased doing business with the bakery in question after becoming aware of the abuses.

The director of the bakery, which went bankrupt in 2022, defended himself in an interview and emphasized that the company was regularly audited and that everything had been done legally. However, the fact that victims of modern slavery lived and worked in catastrophic conditions raises serious questions about the duty of care of the companies involved.

The British government wants to act

Former Prime Minister Theresa May, who introduced the UK's Modern Slavery Act in 2015, acknowledged that the law had failed in this case and needed to be strengthened.

She described the case as "shocking" and emphasized that companies must take more responsibility to check their supply chains more carefully and identify such abuses at an early stage.

The UK government has announced that it will take further action to tackle modern slavery in the future, while victims like Pavel, who is one of those exploited, have to live with the mental and physical consequences of their abuse. "The damage to my mental health cannot be undone," he says. "It will always stay with me."