Looks like mistreatment of factory workers has caused the spike in Leicester

[Tellmetruth4]

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jun/30/some-leicester-factories-stayed-open-and-forced-staff-to-come-in

It’s unbelievable that unscrupulous employers can get away with paying their poor mainly immigrant staff below the minimum wage, force them to come to work even after they’ve tested positive telling them they are not to tell their colleagues and board up factory windows so passers by can’t see the factory is open.

Surely massive fines and imprisonment for the owners should be considered?

To be honest it's not just factories which are treating their staff poorly over this.

Friend of mine is a Bank nurse and works regular shifts at a big local hospital. She got corona symptoms so obviously didn't go to work - had a swab which was negative. So didn't get paid for the shifts she cancelled while waiting for the swab. If it had been positive she would have got paid. She went back to work even though still felt ill as not corona. Her antibody test has now come back positive - so it's likely she had a false negative swab. So she dragged herself back to work while sill poorly with corona.

I know other bank staff who say they couldn't risk not getting paid and would go to work with symptoms if they felt well enough to. If they have to take days off through winter every time they have a bit of a cough they're not going to be able to pay their rent.

With all due respect the working conditions in those factories don't look remotely like the conditions for nurses in hospitals. And I don't imagine people have been donating pizzas and clapping for those factory workers over the past few months. There's a company called Djinn that operate out of Leicester and their website says they produce for luxury UK brands so it would be interesting to see who that is...

I hope all the people being outraged on here never buy any fast fashion.....otherwise you're being completely hypocritical

Well I don't consider clothes disposable if that's what you mean. Nearly everything I have, I wear for years on end. I've read that you could massively increase the pay to the people making clothes, by adding a pound or two to the price of an average garment. I would gladly pay that.

Admittedly I do shop in the high street but to be honest, whether you're at the cheap or expensive end of the high street, the items are made in pretty much the same conditions and the workers receive the same pay. Just because a t-shirt costs £50 instead of £5 the person who made it doesn't get paid any more. You just get to buy it in a nicer shop and have more satisfaction because the label says Reiss and not Dorothy Perkins.

I don't have the time or energy for second hand. I find it hard enough to find clothes to fit when choosing from a full range of new items in a normal shop. I'd have absolutely no chance if looking in the average charity shop's random selection.

@KaptainKaveman

Once we've left the EU we can look forward to much more erosion of workers' rights and exploitation. Oh good.

Utter bullshit! ffs

@annabel85

It's no wonder BAME communities are disproportionately affected.

er... BAME communities are by large BRITISH, not immigrants.

@heyheyho, why? The government has already said that they want to change a lot of those laws, incl maternity leave etc... all under the 'red tape' argument.

For these factories It doesn’t matter what labour laws we Now or in the future as they won’t obey them anyway.

@BarbaraofSeville

I want to know what brands are made in these factories

The Guardian article linked upthread says that 75% of Boohoo's clothing is made in Leicester.

The great sadness being that it's still mostly made by South Asian women in sweatshop conditions for criminally low wages. And if the employees themselves haven't come to Britain for a 'better life' then their parents and grandparents will have done just that.

The founders of BooHoo are Mahmud Kamani and Carol Kane. Their other labels include Pretty Little Thing, Karen Millen and Coast - so not just the cheap and cheerful stuff.

Business Insider: Boohoo

I posted on another thread that N Italy is the biggest centre of modern slavery in Europe. Leicester is the biggest centre in the UK. I don’t think it’s a coincidence how hard hit both those regions have been.

Back in February a Milanese friend explained that the areas surrounding Milan are notorious for garment sweat shops staffed by trafficked FIFO Chinese workers and was the likely reason that it had spread so savagely and quickly through Lombardy. All in the pursuit of a “Made in Italy” label.

Boohoo have also just bought Oasis and Warehouse.

Thanks to the EU, UK employers MUST provide pregnant workers with at least 14 weeks paid maternity leave, of which 2 weeks must occur before birth

You do realise that maternity leave in UK exceeded that for many years before EU brought in any minimum maternity standards at all, and that ours remains amongst the most generous? Ditto the protections against dismissal pre dated the EU minimum.

Shoehorning Brexit into an unrelated thread is unfortunate at the best of times, but when it's based on utterly inaccurate information, just like a thread only a few days ago, it really becomes a little annoying (no I'm not a Leaver; just not prepared to have Remain undermined by the spouting of inaccuracies)

Exactly. Do you think the people who make a £100 Karen Millen dress get paid more or do it in better conditions than those who make one that sells for £10 in Pretty Little Thing, which looks very much like a cheap fast fashion brand to me?

Boohoo have lots about sustainability and being ethical on their website. If that really was the case, they wouldn't have people being forced to work illegally for less than NMW would they?

[quote QuestionMarkNow]@heyheyho, why? The government has already said that they want to change a lot of those laws, incl maternity leave etc... all under the 'red tape' argument.[/quote]
Still bullshit. Why would they scrap all employment laws? They'd never get elected again . Use your brain and stop listening to left wing propaganda

I used to work in similar factories in my uni holidays in the 90s. From the pictures, it looks the same as it did back then. It was brutal work. People cant complain as they'll lose their job, their social circle. Vast majority dont speak english so their job opportunities are very limited.

@verybritishproblems

Once we've left the EU we can look forward to much more erosion of workers' rights and exploitation. Oh good.

Yes I don’t think some people realise how much the EU was protecting our rights. Maternity leave and other benefits were all EU law I believe...

Presumably none of you are aware how Spain treats its immigrant workers to provide Europe with cheap fruit and veg? Or the extent of the use of slave labour across the whole of the EU? I'm afraid being in Europe offers no protection at all to the world's poorest people. That's no a pro brexit vie btw, just astonishment at the naivete.

You would think the government would try to find out earlier why the spikes are happening, the present situation is ridiculous with, it seems, the rise in cases being caused by poor and illegal labour practices. the government response is to sit on their hands for 11 days, keep local public health officials in the dark and then tell the people of Leicester not to go to the pub or hairdressers. Utterly ridiculous, and with no prohibition on travelling out of the area not even potentially effective.

My mum was white British and earning 50p per hour As a seamstress until the early 90's when she changed jobs to earn £1.50 per hour working in a care home. No holiday or sick pay and 80-90 hour Plus work weeks, but contracted for 12 to get around the protection for full time employees, she was also working every xmas day for an extra 50pan hour bonus. She was terrified of losing her job due to low skills and being functionally illiterate, so felt that she could never complain.
I will be forever grateful to Tony Blair for bringing in minimum wage, it meant she could buy me an actual bed and carpet, and we could actually eat every single day which felt like a luxury.

the fact is that we will slide back to this quickly without EU protection, especially if the government reduce help via universal credits and use the excuse that pay needs to be eroded in order to boost an industry decimated by Covid 19, whilst increasing bonuses to Bankers and executives for their hard work.
Once again, it'll be blamed on foreigners and immigration for bringing wages down, increasing racial division.
I hope I'm wrong, but have a feeling next summer is going to be a bad one.

@Bininterest, I saw your previous post and I agree with you. I recall many years ago passing horrible windowless factories and seeing people shuffling in and out of there at all hours.This was 40 years ago, its nothing new. Similar set up in other areas eg North Manchester.

@Hoppinggreen

No I don’t buy “fast fashion” but I do want to know which retailers use these suppliers in case it’s not just the cheap stuff they are churning out

This ^

I read that certain retailers put pressure on these factories to still fulfil their orders during lockdown. So we should be looking closely at these retailers - they after all have the power to award or deny contracts and punish factory owners.

@LolaDarkdestroyer Could you fit more racist stereotypes into one post? How about some evidence to back your claims?

Friend of mine is a Bank nurse and works regular shifts at a big local hospital. She got corona symptoms so obviously didn't go to work - had a swab which was negative. So didn't get paid for the shifts she cancelled while waiting for the swab.

I thought if you are back staff, you don't get paid if you don't work. Regardless of why you are off.

Notmy these factories don’t pay minimum wage now so what protection are the workers getting from being in the EU?