General Chat

I have just been reading a report about clothing factories in Leicester where the workers are paid as low as £4 an hour and even go into work if they have tested positive for Covid19, because they can't afford not to work (no sick pay). One worker in one of the factories tested positive and when he told his employer, he was told to continue to go to work but not to tell his colleagues about the test. No wonder it is spreading rapidly there still. Surely somebody should be doing something about that. They are obviously the cause of the lockdown.

The system is the cause of the lockdown.
£4 an hour is well below minimum wage - how has the employer managed to get away with it?
Even claiming sick pay via the Government only gives you £95 a week for the first event.
If you aren't ill within the next 6 weeks, the amount you'll get a week after that is £26.
If you ARE ill within 6 weeks, you get the £95.
Confusing? Yes! Enough to pay the rent/mortgage? NO.

I don't know how they get away with it. They have worked all through the lockdown apparently. Owners appear to be mostly Asian (Indian) and the workers Asian and Bolivian and probably other immigrants. The factories are known in Leicester as The Dark Factories (after Dark Satanic Mills). And we are supposed to be a civilised country criticizing the sweat shops abroad. Clothes are apparently made for New Look, Boohoo, river Island and a few I didn't recognise at all.

I read about it too. Frightening - on several levels.

Unbelievable I thought.

I have come across Asians exploiting other Asians when I was doing market research.

Locally, they were working in the restaurants.

I wonder why they get away with it and we don't same in southall shops open and goods out on the the pavement till gone 10pm even on a sunday

Major overhauls needed! Someone somewhere is getting a larger backhander to let these sweatshops continue!

So wrong for the people working there, especially with their health and that of others, at risk.

Lizx

It's criminal surely?

But who is a fault here? The factory owners are probably under pressure from the name online suppliers and they don't want to go bust.

If the factory owners behave responsibly and adhere to covid rules it could be the end of their business and a lot of people out of work

Everyone, especially women want a constant supply of new clothes.

There are wider issues with the clothing industry before covid hit.

No, I don't condone this situation at all - just in case anyone wants to jump on me :-P

Nobody is jumping Island. I agree with what you are saying but some of these workers are apparently illegal immigrants and could have been brought in by scrupulous employers who use them as modern day slaves. I have read today from somebody resident there that some are paid as little as £2 an hour and as many as 20 live in three bedroom houses with one bathroom.I don't understand why nobody has done anything.These people are being exploited.

So people trafficking too?

It's a terrble situation on so many levels.

Are the authorites afraid of the 'race card' or are they keeping a lid on a can of worms?
There will be innocents at the bottom I expect but this is so wrong.

I wondered if it was the race card. I think it might have raised its head a bit far now so maybe somebody will do something about it.

I was a wages clerk till 1985. At that tome people below a certain pay level were not entitled to Stat. Sick pay.

It is likely that workers paid just £4 per hour would not meet the required threshold.

So would get nothing if they didn't work..

Not sure if they are covered by National Insurance either (things have changed since 1985 and my memory isn't too good). This would mean that the employers part of National Insurance would be very low too.(if nor zero)

Another money saving to the employer, and cheaper clothing available for us all should we chose to buy it.

Perhaps we all need to take a stand, demand a scheme that shows that items from Home as well as abroad are " Fair Trade" and not made in sweat shops.

Though it is tempting to buy less costly things without thinking about why it is so cheap.

That is true Tess and maybe we don’t always think about where things are made if they are cheap.

If a lot of them, particularly women, were not beig exploited in the factories, they would be doing the same job indoors. Probably on an even lower rate and usig their own electricity.

If we build a society where only the rich have a real stake in our way of life & where the creation of wealth is the most prized virtue, we establish an underclass that steadily lose hope of living other than at the margins of society.

Welcome to Leicester! :-P

Not *if* we build and not *we* Dermot. This is the creation of greedy arrogant fat cats which the majority of us aren't.

I didn't know you lived in Leicester.

Lol he is fibbing Island, he doesn't of course.

Sharron I believe some of the so called factories are in small houses.

I didn't think he did Ann LOL
His comment and tongue poking didn't/doesn't sit well with me. I don't live in Leicester either but have sympathy for those caught up in this awful situation.

Somethinh good then!
Boohoo's shares have plunged by £500million today after Priti Patel asked Britain's FBI to investigate the fast fashion chain over claims they were using an alleged £3.50-an-hour sweatshop in Leicester to produce cheap clothing during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Home Secretary has stepped in and instructed the National Crime Agency to probe the issues amid claims the factories were operating without social distancing measures in place with workers not all wearing masks.

Ms Patel has called the allegations 'truly appalling' and vowed to clamp down on modern slavery in Britain - and today Boohoo's shares collapsed to £2.94 each - down by 90p today.