LABOUR ABUSE CAMPAIGN TARGETS LEICESTER

Unseen is launching a new campaign in March 2021 to raise awareness and reporting of labour abuse among clothing workers in the Leicester area.

Unseen is launching a new campaign in March 2021 to raise awareness and reporting of labour abuse among clothing workers in the Leicester area.

The campaign, in partnership with Leicester City Council, urges people to get in touch with Unseen’s Modern Slavery & Exploitation Helpline if they:

  • think they are the victims of labour abuse, or
  • they know someone who is being exploited.

Individuals can phone the 24-hour Helpline on 08000 121 700 for advice on what to do. All calls are free, confidential and can be conducted in more than 200 languages. Watch our film about the campaign, below.

Says Justine Currell, Unseen Director: “There has been a lot of criticism recently centring on labour abuse in the clothing and fast fashion sector, particularly in factories in the Leicester area.

“This campaign is showing workers there is support out there for them, and will send a stronger message to offending employers that they need to improve the way they treat their staff.

“If you don’t have a work contract, are working in unsafe conditions, get paid less than the national minimum wage or don’t get paid for all the hours you work, you are being exploited.

“If you are a worker who thinks they are being abused in any way, or have concerns about someone you know, then I urge you to get in touch.”

The campaign includes social media, posters in local shops, leaflets delivered to thousands of households and messages printed on pharmacy bags.

The campaign backers include local businesses and the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, which works to protect vulnerable and exploited workers.

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Justine Currell

As I came to understand more about the issue, including through a visit to an Unseen safehouse, I knew I needed to do more to stop this abuse and exploitation.

For the last five years of my Civil Service career, I was the Modern Slavery Senior Policy Advisor in the Home Office and led on development of the Modern Slavery Act, including the transparency in supply chains provision and business guidance.

I joined Unseen to lead the development of the Modern Slavery & Exploitation Helpline, and Unseen’s work with businesses. I am regularly called upon to present at national and international conferences and use my experience of working with Ministers to influence other governments internationally to take action to address modern slavery and, in particular, business supply chain issues.

In my spare time I enjoy keeping fit, music, reading and travelling.

Andrew Wallis

What ultimately compelled me to act was a report on how people from Eastern Europe were being trafficked through Bristol airport to the USA. Kate Garbers, who went on to be an Unseen Director, and I wrote to all the city councillors, MPs and the Police Chief Constable challenging them on the issue. The challenge came back to us: this city needs safe housing for trafficked women. And so Unseen began.

But we never wanted Unseen to be just about safe housing. We wanted to end slavery once and for all, and that remains our driving focus.

I chaired the working group for the Centre for Social Justice’s landmark report “It Happens Here: Equipping the United Kingdom to Fight Modern Slavery”. This is now acknowledged as the catalyst behind the UK’s Modern Slavery Act of 2015. It was a great honour to be awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours that year. On the other hand, I’ve also been described as “the loveliest disrupter you could ever hope to meet”.

This job has taken me from building flat-pack furniture for safehouses, to working with businesses to address slavery in supply chains, to delivering training, raising awareness and advising governments around the world.

When not at work, I enjoy travelling, spending time with my dog Harley, cooking, supporting Liverpool and Yorkshire CC, music (I’m a former DJ) and endurance events such as the Three Peaks Challenge and Tribe Freedom Runs – which I vow never to do again. Until the next time.