Unions for McDonald's China staff

Overseas companies are under increasing scrutiny in China

Employees in McDonalds and KFC China outlets will be unionised this year.

McDonalds China and Yum! Brands, owner of KFC and Pizza Hut, said branches of the state-backed labour union would be opened in China's Guangdong province.

Earlier in April, the union alleged that the firms had been underpaying their staff in the southern state.

The US chains deny they are responding to the allegations, and maintain their personnel policies have complied with China's labour regulations.

The All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) earlier this month said part-time workers at McDonalds and Yum Brands' KFC restaurants in Guangdong were being paid up to 40% less than the legal minimum wage of about $1 (50p) an hour, and urged them to open union branches there.

McDonalds - which already has union branches at restaurants in Shanghai, Jiangsu and Anhui - started talks about setting up a union in Guangdong last November, spokesman George Gu said.

Meanwhile, most of Yum Brands' subsidiaries have joined the ACFTU.