BEIJING – US fast-food giant McDonald’s says it will raise the salaries of its workers, including part-time employees, at its 800-plus Chinese outlets, effective from September 1. <\/p>\n
About 95% of McDonald’s China “crew” will see a pay increase of 12-56%, or an average of 30%, said Jeffrey Schwartz, chief executive officer of McDonald’s (China) Co Ltd. The remaining 5% are already being “paid very well”. This will involve about 45,000 full-time and part-time workers, including students. <\/p>\n
McDonald’s has broadly three types of employees: crew, or the non-managerial staff serving at its outlets; managers; and administrative staff. “We have raised salaries in China many times, but this is the first time there is such a large increase covering so many people,” Schwartz said. <\/p>\n
The announcement comes a few months after media reports about McDonald’s and other foreign fast-food operators such as KFC paying their part-time staff less than the local minimum wages (see China’s part-time McWorkers exploited , Asia Times Online, April 20). <\/p>\n
But Schwartz said the company’s decision to raise pay has nothing to do with the pay-related bad press it has been getting. “We have been looking at a wage increase for a year. The issue [reports of low pay] only reminded us that we need to move more quickly.” <\/p>\n
Under the new wage initiative, pay for McDonald’s “crew” across China will be “much higher than the local minimum levels”. <\/p>\n
“It will be 15% higher in both Beijing and Guangzhou, and 12% higher in Shanghai,” said Susanna Li, vice president of McDonald’s China human resources. For example, full-time workers in Guangzhou will see their monthly wages rise 21% to 1,072 yuan ($142). <\/p>\n
Though the Labor Bureau of South China’s Guangdong province clarified in June that McDonald’s had complied with the regulations set by the local government, the issue of underpaying part-time employees has dented the company’s image. Many workers had claimed they were receiving the city’s legal minimum wage of 7.50 yuan an hour. <\/p>\n
And that’s the last thing McDonald’s would like to see. “China contributes 2% of McDonald’s global sales, which is a significant amount. Annually, McDonald’s opens 100 new stores in China,” Schwartz said. “We don’t want to be thought of in that [negative] way. We want to be the best employer in China.” <\/p>\n
McDonald’s managers, who account for 14% of its total local staff, are not included in the wage-increase program, but they have benefited from the “profit-award program” that started last year. <\/p>\n
In 2006, 80% of the fast-food giant’s Chinese managers received a bonus of up to twice their annual salary. <\/p>\n
(Asia Pulse\/Xinhua Information Center)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BEIJING – US fast-food giant McDonald’s says it will raise the salaries of its workers, including part-time employees, at its 800-plus Chinese outlets, effective from September 1. About 95% of McDonald’s China “crew” will see a pay increase of 12-56%, or an\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[3],"class_list":["post-1130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-compandbenefits","tag-null"],"yoast_head":"\n