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?

FT says Government knew !!!!

How is that a surprise? Authorities know about a great number of things, but all too often they're allowed to pass because of "cultural sensibilities"

Now it's got to the point where a large number of lives are potentially at risk, there may need to be a conversation around how often a blind eye can go on being turned - but that will be neither welcome nor easy

@ultimatewednesday people are probably wary of being accused of racism

"Can you imagine what's going to be said if the council / police / whoever are perecived to be targeting mainly asian owners?"
Surely whether the factory owners are mainly Asian should not be a consideration. We should prosecute the owners, irrespective of the colour of their skin.
The police need to just do their jobs properly and not concern themselves with the perception of being racist. Wasn't it because of trying not to be seen as racist that the police ignored the Pakistani gangs who were abusing 1400 Rotherham children?

We have to protect the victims (in this case the workers) no matter what.

@Puzzledandpissedoff

These arrogant people saying they didn't and won't shut should be prosecuted and fined/put in jail

That's all very well, but so far those reported as having refused to close are all asian

Can you imagine what's going to be said if the council / police / whoever are perecived to be targeting mainly asian owners?

This kind of situation is going to carry on though, as long as people are afraid of what's been 'said'. Meanwhile, the poor and the powerless carry on being exploited.

If it hadn't been for the spike this would have carried on indefinitely, while it seems to have common knowledge amongst local people.

I'm sure that the reason they persuade themselves they do nothing and time and time again, that has resulted in exploitation of vulnerable people.

How could dealing with a factory that's forcing people to work for less than minimum wage ever be racist? It's just an excuse not to deal with issues that are "only" harming minorities.

I’m not surprised. We have regulators, highly paid, for every tiny thing, but none for employment breaches.

We have the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority.

The police need to just do their jobs properly and not concern themselves with the perception of being racist

This kind of situation is going to carry on, as long as people are afraid of what's been 'said'

Please don't think I'm disagreeing in any way; I'm merely pointing out what the consequences would be
We all know that sensitivity is crucial, but have you any idea what even one accusation of racism can do to a police officer's career, never mind a number of factory owners alleging the same thing?

Sadly, among officialdom, we seem to have reached a point where some wrongdoers are almost untouchable, and I'm not sure that's healthy

Isn't it also racist not to protect the vulnerable in those communities?

I agree NotEverything.

The law of the country needs to be upheld. This constant reference to cultural sensitivities is now used as an excuse not to address behaviours and law breaking.

If anyone shouts 'racism', they need to be called out. It is the factory owners that need to be prosecuted, it is irrelevant what colour, ethnicity etc they are.

As regards the lack of english, I know this won't be popular, but we should expect people to speak the language of the country they choose to live in. I would not go and live in France and expect everything to be translated into English for me. There are masses of opportunity for people to learn English, for free, they choose not too. This is also often for cultural reasons etc, this means that people cannot integrate. Everyone loves to say the UK is so multicultural - there's lots of people living here from different cultures but in many cases there is low integration.

@notmyfirstusername
If course we wont slip back to that no goverment would make major risks in not getting re elected
People who make out the eu gave us every right are blinkered
And as pointed out factories like this exsist within the eu and here whilst we are in the eu and always have been

I don't see how any country can exist with a two tier law system, this would turn into a them and us situation which could create such discord that may even result in civil war.

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

Most hospitals have made an exception for coronavirus because they don't want people turning up to work because they feel well enough to work but have a cough/corona and turn up anyway rather than lose money. Plus for nurses there's a fair chance that if they catch it they caught it at work.

@UltimateWednesday

Isn't it also racist not to protect the vulnerable in those communities?

I agree. Vulnerable people are being abused here.

It does seem ironic that BLM are calling for the removal of 200-year-old statues of slaveowners, yet strangely silent about this sort of modern-day slavery

Vulnerable people are being abused here

They are indeed, but too often it comes down to "who shouts loudest" and sadly the victims don't always have much influence

That's why we have structures to protect them, but if they're not allowed to function then the vulnerable become collateral damage

When I said fast fashion, I mean pretty much everything on the high street. I'm in shock - people have been buying this stuff for decades, we have so many documentaries about working conditions of garment workers, we KNOW they get paid peanuts to work long hours and get beaten up if they go on strike or ask for better wages. Yet the minute it happens in leafy England it's all awful and the middle-classes are outraged. Do you not think this has been happening in Bangladesh all through coronavirus? People being told to come to work or get sacked? Stop buying Primark, Next, Zara, all that crap, buy ethical or second hand or learn to sew. Otherwise it is ridiculous to complain about this on Mumsnet while also queueing for high street shops for a £10 top.

*They are indeed, but too often it comes down to "who shouts loudest" and sadly the victims don't always have much influence

That's why we have structures to protect them, but if they're not allowed to function then the vulnerable become collateral damage*

These factories exist within communities in cities. They occupy physical spaces. They are not ‘hidden away’ on sites in isolated rural land. Communities know about their existence. The community leaders and councillors must be aware of what’s going on on their doorstep. Either:

1. They aren’t, and are thus incompetent

2. They are fully aware, and are thus complicit

@Puzzledandpissedoff

The police need to just do their jobs properly and not concern themselves with the perception of being racist

This kind of situation is going to carry on, as long as people are afraid of what's been 'said'

Please don't think I'm disagreeing in any way; I'm merely pointing out what the consequences would be
We all know that sensitivity is crucial, but have you any idea what even one accusation of racism can do to a police officer's career, never mind a number of factory owners alleging the same thing?

Sadly, among officialdom, we seem to have reached a point where some wrongdoers are almost untouchable, and I'm not sure that's healthy

I am from a BAME background. The police should do their bloody job and shut these places down. I don't care who owns them.

I don't agree that the police are afraid of racism. I think the police use "cultural sensitivity" as an excuse to do nothing. They are never too worried about cultural sensitivities to deal with potential terrorism threats from inside Asian communities.

The common factor with the Rotherham child abuse scandal, honour killings/underage marriages/fgm (other apparently culturally sensitive areas) and these factory workers is that the victims are, in the vast majority, women. Couple this with the police's shit record dealing with domestic violence and sexual assault, and one might say that institutional misogyny is the police's problem.

Let's hope people remember this next time they buy cheap, poor quality clothing from Boohoo and PLT etc next time they get bored in lockdown.

@BeijingBikini could not agree more.

The government guidelines state to work from home if you can, leaving the door open to manipulation with factory workers who clearly cannot work from home.

The community leaders and councillors must be aware of what’s going on on their doorstep. Either:
1) They aren’t, and are thus incompetent
2) They are fully aware, and are thus complicit

Personally I'd put money on the second option, but it's being said that laws will be changed "in the next few days" so that closure of these premises can be enforced rather than merely requested

Bearing in mind several owners' reported declarations that they won't be closing it'll be interesting to see if that enforcement takes place - and if it does, whether or not they'll simply re-open the next day

Why do people bring up the Rotherham abuse scandal? What has that got to do with thousands of exploited workers living in sheds working for practically nothing?

The community leaders and councillors must be aware of what’s going on on their doorstep. Either:

1. They aren’t, and are thus incompetent
2. They are fully aware, and are thus complicit

Of course they are aware. 54 councillors, meeting at least seven times a year. Not a word about this?

They appear to have looked the other way, whilst people are exploited.

OP I agree with the law coming down heavily on the owners. I wish we could be aware of who the factory supplies to, so pressure can be put on them to stop doing business.