10 signatures reached
To: The Rt Hon. Alok Sharma MP
Shut unethical garment factories in Leicester
It has become evident that a serious investigation is required into the working practices of Leicester garment factories to discover clear breaches of workers rights and health and safety legislation (including living conditions) and furlough procedure related to COVID19, and to take swift, remedial action against the perpetrators.
Businesses found to be breaking wage and employment law must be shut down, managers sanctioned and operations kept from reopening anywhere. Buyers of the goods should also be financially reprimanded severely enough to ensure they never engage this type of unethical labour. The Modern Slavery Act 2015 must be ruthlessly enforced as a matter of public safety. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/30/section/5/enacted
Why is this important?
This is currently urgent and important because multiple factory owners have admitted to not locking down when none of them were producing essential goods. This has lead to an unfettered spread of COVID 19 in these factories and in the crowded living quarters and transport that the workers are forced to inhabit.
Even without this currently lethal behaviour, the operation of factories who pay workers less than the minimum wage and feel it appropriate to force their workers into unlawful situations, is not to be condoned.
A system which allows multi million pound retailers to take advantage of unscrupulous factory managers is broken and needs fixing forthwith, in order to drag Leicester away from the Victorian era and into a greener, fairer 21st century.
Ideally, following factory shut downs, education and other assistance will be provided for the unemployed workers so that they have other choices and these factories can no longer operate amywhere in the UK.
