Two young rural residents, currently employed by Beijing KFC Company Ltd, had their suit against their employer recently accepted by the Beijing Labour Disputes Arbitration Committee, and lawyers for the couple said that theirs is just one of many recent labour disputes that the company has incurred in recent months.

Sun Weiping, originally a farmer from Hunan Province, and his wife, Zhang Chuanping filed a suit with the arbitration committee, seeking Beijing KFC acknowledge that they had been employed by the company and that the company pay their basic living expenses as required by law.

This is the second time in recent months that the Beijing KFC has been sued for poor labour practices. Xu Yange, a farmer originally from Shandong Province, sued Beijing KFC for denying his employment with the company and for refusing to pay "economic compensation."

"There is no absolutely no coincidence in these three workers' cases. Actually, there have  been more than 20 other KFC employees coming to seek advice, but later, because of different reasons, they gave up [the fight] to protect their rights," said Shi Fumao, executive director of the Beijing Rural Migrant Workers' Legal Aid Work Station. "The violation of their rights is related to KFC's employment system. KFC is deliberately getting round China's Labour Law."

Wild fluctuations in work assignments: couple earns less than 60 yuan combined in one month

Sun Weiping and his wife, Zhang Chuanping, came to work in Beijing in 2005. It was Zhang who was first introduced by an employment agency to work as a cleaner in KFC's distribution centre. Later, Sun was introduced by his wife to work as a delivery worker in the centre.  His interviewer, a manager on duty, gave him a verbal promise that they would be able to assign him between 168 and 200 hours of work every month, at an hourly wage of 6.50 yuan. At that rate Sun hoped to earn between 1,092 yuan and 1,300 yuan a month.

But Sun quickly discovered that apart from being assigned 220 working hours in January, he normally was assigned about 120 hours a month, receiving an income of 700-800 yuan. In March this year, KFC only assigned him 28 hours of work, whereas Zhang, his wife, did not even get 28 hours. Deducting insurance premiums, their combined salary was less than 60 yuan.

"After March, we have not been assigned any shifts at all. I approached the storehouse superintendent. He didn't give me any reason and didn't say whether I would be assigned any shifts from now on. He also didn't say if I had been fired," Sun said. "Anyway, in the confusion, we are not working now. KFC has not said anything."

KFC exploits unfair employment system to avoid legal responsibilities

According to the "Regulations on Payment of Wages" in Beijing, if the employer does not provide normal regular work for its employee and that is not due to any fault of the employee himself or herself, the employer must follow the relevant state regulations.

The Regulations on Adjusting the Minimum Wage Level and Basic Living Expenses in Beijing requires that the employer pay the employee's basic living expenses if the employer does not provide regular work for its employee due to any fault of the employee. Beijing's minimum wage per person was 406 yuan per month until 1 July 2006 when it was raised to 448 yuan per month.

"They did not sack us, nor did they assign us any shifts. We demand KFC give us our basic living expenses according to the law," Sun said.

Although Sun and Zhang have worked at the KFC distribution centre for almost one year, both of them still have not signed any labour contracts with the company. In the beginning, they were asked to sign labour contracts with an employment agency called Time Bridge. It was Time Bridge which would "issue the monthly salaries and pay the insurance premiums on behalf" of Beijing KFC.

 "According the KFC employees who come to us for help, KFC asked them to sign their labour contracts with Time Bridge. If they did not sign it, they would have to leave the jobs. So, the workers could only go to Time Bridge if any problems arose," said Shi Fumao. "This kind of fake employment arrangement is in fact a way for KFC to avoid taking any responsibilities for the employees," he added.

An employee who has worked for Beijing KFC for many years said that apart from managers, shop managers and assistants who receive a fixed monthly income, other workers are basically paid by the hour, so if they are not assigned shifts, they do not receive money.

The working hours of Sun Weiping and his fellow workers were determined by their assigned shifts. When they were assigned more shifts, they could work more than 10 hours every day, whereas on other days, they worked less than one hour in 10 or so days.

Many days Sun and his fellow workers worked more than 8 hours of overtime a day, but because they were not considered full time workers, they did not receive any overtime pay. Part-time workers should have been paid at a rate of 7.90 yuan per hour, but they found that their average rate was only 6.50 yuan.

"Although on the surface KFC is hiring part time workers, but in practice, it is using a weird operating model. To reduce labour costs, KFC does not hesitate to harm workers' rights and interests. This is exploiting the loopholes of the China's Labour Law," said Shi Fumao. He said they still evade their responsibilities by dispatching fake labour service, adding that it "really does not match the image of an internationally renowned multinational company."

Source: Legal Daily (27 July 2006)

28 July 2006