LEICESTER – A multi-agency operation led by the Gangsters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) is executing unannounced visits on Leicester garment factories, to ensure sites are complying with workplace safety standards, following findings in recent months of worker exploitation.
After several sites were found to pay staff poverty-line wages whilst disregarding social distancing mechanisms and operating at full capacity, in a city that was subjected to the first ‘local lockdown’ in the UK, authorities have vowed to clamp down on cases of malpractice.
GLAA’s head of enforcement, Ian Waterfield, said: “No one should have to work in an unsafe environment, feel forced or coerced into doing so, nor have their labour exploited. Exploiting vulnerable workers for commercial gain will not be tolerated and there is a concerted multi-agency drive to tackle it robustly.”
