Thread by @ClaudiaWebbe

I am grateful for the support of a cross party group of MPs who’ve joined me in writing to the Prime Minister calling for urgent action to end worker exploitation in parts of Leicester’s Garment Industry

Billionaires wealth is built on the exploitation of workers

#FastFasion

Holding back tears constituents have bravely shared their experiences of worker exploitation describing how their bosses seek to avoid detection by making their factories appear closed whilst workers’ file through back entrances; fraudulent payslips disguising actual hours worked

Unwell workers are told to keep their symptoms secret; workers are denied holiday pay & sick pay; required to make their own personal protective equipment or do without. When inspectors arrive they’re ushered out the back. This is a microcosm of the global exploitation of workers

Breaks are non existent, long and late hours are regular; lighting is poor; with windows kept shut in all weathers; there are no bank holidays or annual leave & no union recognition. In some cases days and months are spent on relabelling garments made abroad with “Made in the UK”

In 2010 Tazeen Ahmad exposed poor conditions in clothes factories located in Leicester

In 2015, @ethicaltrade commissioned research by @uniofleicester into the city’s garment industry.
www2.le.ac.uk/offices/press/…

This highlighted severe and widespread violation of employment law

This research was presented to Parliament’s @HumanRightsCtte who then produced a report

“publications.parliament.uk/pa/jt201617/jt…

which found that “labour rights abuses are endemic in Leicester’s garment industry.”

The recommendations were not implemented:

publications.parliament.uk/pa/jt201617/jt…

In January 2017, @C4Dispatches returned to Leicester with Tazeen Ahmed and produced, “Undercover: Britain’s Cheap Clothes.”

channel4.com/press/news/und…

In October 2017, @CityMayorLeic hosted meetings with HM Revenue and Customs, police, fire brigade and others to tackle the problem

In 2018 the Financial Times undertook an investigation, their report was entitled “Dark factories: Labour exploitation in Britain’s garment industry”
google.com/amp/s/amp.ft.c…

In 2018 the @CommonsEAC began its enquiries and reported its findings in 2019

parliament.uk/business/commi…

In 2019, every recommendation by Parliament’s @CommonsEAC “Fixing Fashion Report: Clothing Consumption and Sustainability” was rejected. Report says its an “open secret that some garment factories in places like Leicester are not paying the minimum wage”

parliament.uk/business/commi…

I raised the issue in Parliament at my first opportunity to speak to the House of Commons, this was on 9th March 2020👇🏾 |I wrote to the Business Secretary on 28/03/20 raising concerns about unsafe working conditions affecting workers; I received a stock response from a Minister

https://twitter.com/claudiawebbe/status/1279772135997812738

In June 2020 workers’ rights organisation Labour Behind the Label following their investigation produced a report entitled “Boohoo & COVID-19: The people behind the profit”
labourbehindthelabel.org/report-boohoo-…

Many factories continued operating throughout the lockdown due to sustained orders

Its appalling the exploited labour of workers is helping to finance extravagant corporate salaries. This is a microcosm of the stark inequality that exists in our society and across the world, its proof the obscene wealth of billionaires is built on exploitation of working class.

A safe space for workers to come forward. With annonymity workers must be compensated for lost earnings, cruelty and hurt caused. Unscrupulous employers, lead firms and fashion brands should be brought to account for outrageous employer malpractice

We must reverse severe funding cuts to the Health and Safety Executive; create a single ethical licensing scheme; end the hostile environment & extend protections to all migrant workers

We all have a responsibility to ensure the clothes we wear are not stained with human misery

Onus should be on lead firms and fashion brand to take responsibility for their supply chains

Wages should be removed from market competition to stop the race to the bottom on pay

Trade Unions & workers at factory level must be given a voice, for enforcement to have any effect

#FastFashion

Worker exploitation is a national problem happening across many UK cities

Almost one million ppl were paid less than the minimum wage from April-June 2019 alone

Workers’ human rights abuses in Leicester’s garment industry is just the tip of the iceberg

https://twitter.com/claudiawebbe/status/1285611502578421761?s=21

There are 1,500 plus garment factories in Leicester alone with many more UK wide. Yet, Govt slashed the budget of the Health and Safety Executive -one of the bodies responsible for investigating workplace exploitation - by £100 million or 46%, since 2010. HMRC budget cut too

Ten years of Tory-led governments have slashed the HSE funding from £239m to £136m & cut number of inspectors by a third

Instead of providing “greater resourcing for HMRC’s National Minimum Wage team to increase inspection and detection work” the Govt cut its resources and size

The government have starved local authorities of funding over the past ten years. In Leicester central government grant funding has been cut from £289 million in 2010 to £171 million in 2019. Thus, essential frontline services are put at risk & no resources to do workplace safety