Since March 2017, French legislation has forced, as part of the duty of vigilance, its largest companies, including abroad, to publish plans to prevent risks related to their activities and serious violations of human rights and fundamental liberties.
Three unions including two Brazilians the CGT, the UGT and the CUT ask the boss of the French subsidiary of Mc Donald’s as well as its American general manager to publish “within three months a vigilance plan in accordance with legal requirements”. According to them, McDonald’s France has not published any vigilance plan since the law requires it.
Sexual Harassment Facts
However, in France, the signatories point in particular to “failures of the sign in taking into account” many facts of sexual harassment within restaurants. In addition, two fines were also imposed in 2019 by the brand in France against it for “violation of the rules relating to maximum working hours and minimum rest time”.
In Brazil, a recent report by the local NGO Repórter Brasil, created to denounce the country’s recurrent violations of the fundamental rights of peoples and workers, calls into question certain social and environmental practices of certain Brazilian suppliers of coffee, orange juice or soy from Mc Donald’s France.
In principle, McDonald’s undertakes to source its coffee from subcontractors who have obtained certification of good practices. But the sign is blamed for the sprains of its main supplier. One of its plantations would have lost this label after using pesticides under risky conditions.