‘She agreed to work for £5 an hour’: the desperate plight of many Leicester garment workers

Union membership in UK textile factories is low, and workers often have community links to the bosses they work for. Photograph: Alamy

‘When people are so vulnerable, they often don’t even know that they’re being exploited. It’s really difficult to see who is on your side.” Leicester community activist Tarek Islam is describing the position of many workers in the city’s garment factories.

Unpaid wages, unexplained dismissals, punishing working hours … he and his colleagues at community project Fab-L (Fashion-workers’ Advice Bureau Leicester) have uncovered a catalogue of exploitative practices.