Comment: Guangzhou Mc boy 2007-03-31 09:17 I have worked at McDonalds in Guangzhou for 6 years, I would take this job over some of the alternatives anyday. My brother has bounced around from job to job working ridiculous hours for the same pay mentioned here and often hasn't even recieved his pay. Off the record I would certainly prefer to work at Starbucks.

McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Chicken, who were accused of underpaying Chinese part-time employees, have agreed to set up trade unions in south China's Guangdong province, AFP quoted a union official as saying Friday,  

Hang Yuan, a spokeswoman with the All-China Federation of Trade Unions told AFP that the unions are likely to be set up before the middle of this year,  

The announcement comes after both fast-food chains stood under the limelight over the alleged practice of paying part-time workers in Guangdong's capital Guangzhou up to 40 percent less than the minimum wage 0f 7.5 yuan.

"We can draw a lesson from these recent cases that in enterprises without trade unions, workers' rights and interests can't be protected," Huang said.

AFP said the decision to set up the trade unions appeared not to be directly linked to the underpayment case, which broke only recently when reported by a Guangdong newspaper.

"The Guangdong Provincial Trade Union started talks with the companies either last year or at the beginning of this year," said Hang.

"It was before the case in Guangzhou was exposed and the companies at that time promised they would form the trade unions."

George Gu, a Shanghai-based executive with McDonald's, told AFP that he was "not clear" about the timetable for establishing the Guangdong unions although the company had plans to set up trade unions in their branches in China.

He added the company had already established quite a few trade unions in some branches in places such as the eastern province of Jiangsu.