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weller54

Possible 2nd lockdown for Leicester?

By weller54, in General Chat

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yorkie1999

yorkie1999

Posted
Posted
6 hours ago, st albans fox said:

 carrying out this ‘low paid’ (illegal here) work in Leicester means it isn’t being done in Morocco or Tunisia or turkey or Moldova .......  I honestly believe that the authorities turn a blind eye to it because they take that excuse in and don’t want to be seen to target a minority community 

 

if they shut down these factories then the production will move into people’s houses. (It already is in many instances and has been for a long while). A sewing machine stuck in the back room and a fella bringing a couple of bags of part made garments around for the next part of the production process to be carried out.  Whilst that makes any kind of regulation even harder, at least it removes the covid issue somewhat.  You cannot avoid the initial  ‘cutting table’ element of the process having to be carried out in a factory unit environment but that is the least labour intensive bit of the process and reduces the transmission element .....but then you have to consider whether the cut fabric could be a vector of transmission if one of the  cutters has it and how long the virus can survive on the fabric (I don’t think it’s too long but then i doubt that too many studies have been done on the specific environment we are talking about here ) 

Makes you wonder why business owners and governments wanted rid of trade unions and made them look like the bad guys for protecting workers rites...well actually, no it doesn’t because sweat shops now get away with abusing workers.

CosbehFox

CosbehFox

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, davieG said:


The officers, from Blaby Police, were called to incidents in Glenfield, Ratby, Groby, Braunstone, Hinckley, Burbage, Earl Shilton, Barlestone, Kirby Muxloe, Narborough and Enderby.

In a post on Facebook, the officers said they attended fights, people breaching Covid restrictions, house parties, 'assaults at pubs' - which resulted in one pub closing - groups gathering in parks, and anti-social behaviour.

They also said one person was arrested on suspicion of drink driving after they spotted a vehicle driving dangerously.

As the officers were finishing for the night, they spotted an ambulance parked up in the hard shoulder of the M69.

 

I thought the lockdown issues in Leicester centred on other areas of the city? :ph34r:

Strokes

Strokes

Posted
Posted
On 04/07/2020 at 13:28, Countryfox said:

Well it seems that national newshounds are now on the scent of the ‘rag trade problem’ we have in Leicester ...   one company that uses these back street sweatshops is called Boohoo and was founded by Mahmud Kamani and Carol Kane .. it’s now worth over £3 billion.     I wonder if Sir Pete knows about this one ...  Pete ! ... Pete !, ... are you reading this ! ...    This is right at the heart of 3 big issues ...  the spreading of Corona virus, slave labour and illegal immigration ...   can you get some council boys round there pronto please Pete !   How is this company able to get away with it ffs.    And ..   rather than wait for the two owners to donate a few bob to the poor and needy and get knighted when they get older,  and then have a nice big statue put up in the city and then pull it down a couple of years later ...   why don’t we do something about it now.

Just imagine if Pete was a Tory, there would be all sorts of outrage. 
Either that or everyone has outrage fatigue 🤷‍♀️

Chrysalis

Chrysalis

Posted
Posted

Well some information on action taken against these factories, sadly they dont seem that quick on the trigger.

 

Quote

A HSE spokesperson previously said: "In Leicester we are actively investigating three textile businesses, have recently contacted 17 and undertaken three site visits.

"Enforcement action is being taken at one of these sites and further spot inspections will take place in the area in the coming days and weeks."

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-53297782

 

Also hancock is still blabbering on about the 3x higher than next town in interviews when Leicester isnt even the highest anymore and the prime reason for those figures are the extra testing, that reason is even stated in report made by public health england.

 

Based on that document, with testing numbers taken into account Leicester was about 3-10% higher than the second highest town on Lockdown day.

davieG

davieG

Posted
Posted

 

 

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/local-news/new-map-shows-parts-leicestershire-4297319

 

New map shows the parts of Leicestershire that would be affected worst by a second Covid-19 wave

 

The map outlines the worst at-risk regions in the UK

 

A new map released by Oxford University has been made to identify coronavirus hotspots that could flare up in Leicester and Leicestershire.

The map outlines at-risk regions based on the number of vulnerable people and available hospital resources to handle outbreaks.

And in Leicestershire, the data suggests the county would be one of the least at-risk areas in the country if a second wave breaks out.

 

The data can be broken down into regions, counties and clinical commissioning groups (CCGs).

 

People can then choose between various measurements, including baseline hospital bed capacity (general care), baseline hospital bed capacity (acute care), excess expected hospital demand relative to baseline capacity (general care) and excess expected hospital demand relative to baseline capacity (acute care).

 

Data suggests the city of Leicester would cope the best in the county if a second wave broke out with 5.9 per cent out of 1,000 people would need general care from hospitalisation and 1.7 per cent of 1,000 people would need acute care.

 

The worst area of the county appears to be East Leicestershire, including towns such as Melton Mowbray and Oakham, where 8.7 people out of 1,000 would need hospitalisation in general care.

Researchers have estimated specific "pressure points" where demand for health services is likely to outstrip baseline local supply.

It also takes into account data on population age, ethnicity, density and social deprivation.

 

Rural areas in Wales and the north-east and south-west of England are considered areas of concern.

Expected hospitalisation rates are high, bed capacity is relatively low and alternative hospital services are harder to reach.

Meanwhile, London and other inner-city areas — including Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester — are highlighted as areas with both deprivation and a high population density, so are at potentially higher risk levels for additional outbreaks.

“Thinking not only regionally but at much smaller scale at the neighbourhood level will be the most effective approach to stifle and contain outbreaks,” paper author and Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science director Melinda Mills told the Mail Online.

She said this is needed “when a lack of track and trace is in place.”

Demonstrating its potential, the researchers used the tool to show that the town of Harrow, London, was one local area with an exceptionally high age-related risk of hospital admissions due to Covid-19.

"By using our online tool, policymakers would immediately have identified Harrow as a potential hotspot of hospital demand,' said paper author and sociologist Mark Verhagen, also of the Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science.

"Ensuring that local decision-makers have this type of fine-grained information available was a key goal of this study."

 

You can try the map here.

http://covid19.demographicscience.ox.ac.uk/demrisk

 

Countryfox

Countryfox

Posted
Posted

So it would appear that several hosiery companies have been visited and nothing too serious found ...   maybe it would help if instead of going to the big factory on the corner with lovely signs outside and plenty of windows, the inspectors went to the small black door on the side of the big old warehouse round the corner with no signs or windows whatsoever ...  inside it would be something like the Tardis with many small companies all crowded in together.   But then again if the man in charge is telling you where to go what chance have you got ...

 

And talking of Sir Pete,  he has been reported as saying if you fancy a pint go to Market Harborough !?!  ...  and apparently chaos ensued ...  is this man fit for office...

 

Anyway ....    back to illegal immigration, slave labour and unbelievable working conditions  here’s a picture of Mr BooHoo himself ...   hang on ...  who’s that peeking out of his top pocket !? ...   :o

 

 

D8686E2A-8727-4CEE-BBB1-C635DDFE5630.jpeg

Jon the Hat

Jon the Hat

Posted
Posted
On 05/07/2020 at 14:08, foxile5 said:

Aye. Let's not open boozers on a sedate day like Monday with folks at work. Let's get them open at 6a.m on a Saturday and call it 'Super Saturday' 

 

Shambles. 

Yeah it was the press who "widely dubbed it Super Saturday".  ****ing morons.

joachim1965

joachim1965

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Countryfox said:

So it would appear that several hosiery companies have been visited and nothing too serious found ...   maybe it would help if instead of going to the big factory on the corner with lovely signs outside and plenty of windows, the inspectors went to the small black door on the side of the big old warehouse round the corner with no signs or windows whatsoever ...  inside it would be something like the Tardis with many small companies all crowded in together.   But then again if the man in charge is telling you where to go what chance have you got ...

 

And talking of Sir Pete,  he has been reported as saying if you fancy a pint go to Market Harborough !?!  ...  and apparently chaos ensued ...  is this man fit for office...

 

Anyway ....    back to illegal immigration, slave labour and unbelievable working conditions  here’s a picture of Mr BooHoo himself ...   hang on ...  who’s that peeking out of his top pocket !? ...   :o

 

 

D8686E2A-8727-4CEE-BBB1-C635DDFE5630.jpeg

Forest Road has a few of those. 

CosbehFox

CosbehFox

Posted
Posted

The city has already been forgotten about. If there was any nous at the authorities regardless of colour or party, they’d be announcing trend every three to four days. No information kills morale and good will 

SemperEadem

SemperEadem

Posted
Posted
42 minutes ago, Steve_Walsh5 said:

Leicester, the first city in the UK to be put in local lockdown, will not get extra financial support from the government. 

Grim these tories.

Innovindil

Innovindil

Posted
Posted

I've got a good idea, we'll have it on repeat on national news that we're sending in every tom dick and harry to investigate these donkey factories using dodgy labour.

 

Absolutely no chance this backfires and all the people responsible for this nonsense shut down and go into hiding for the next couple of weeks until these investigators stop caring again.

 

:nigel:

Dahnsouff

Dahnsouff

Posted
Posted
24 minutes ago, SemperEadem said:

Grim these tories.

Would suggest slating the local businessmen and councilmen involved before looking so far from home. 

davieG

davieG

Posted
Posted

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-53363102

 

 

Leicester lockdown factories 'almost doubled staff' during Covid-19
10 July 2020

The anonymous whistleblower said some factories had stayed open and taken on extra staff during the lockdown
A whistleblower from Leicester's textile industry says some factories almost doubled their staffing to cope with online orders during the Covid-19 lockdown.

The worker, who cannot be identified, said firms that "maybe used to have 50 people working comfortably, now had 80 or 90 people in the same area".

Investigations are ongoing into employment practices at several firms.

A lockdown was enforced in Leicester after a spike in coronavirus cases.

The worker told the BBC some factories had stayed open and taken on extra staff during the lockdown.

"If somebody did have Covid or wasn't well, they were still there passing it on to whoever's next to them," he said.

"During Covid we've had no social distancing whatsoever in the factories.

"They [factory bosses] were getting a lot of pressure from customers to produce garments as quickly as possible, in as much volume as possible, because people were shopping from home and they needed the goods to be in.

"So the pressure was on these suppliers to hire anybody that was walking around and just get somebody on a machine to make a garment.

"Garments go through, six, seven pairs of hands before they get packed and sealed, so a lot of people are touching the same things."


He said the situation had made already poor conditions worse.

"Very few factories, if any, have cleaners coming in and out," he said.

"I've seen people eating at their tables, then going straight back to work. There's no kitchens in a lot of these places, there's barely toilets, and it's all logged because it's all about productivity rather than humanity."

Concerns about working conditions have prompted investigations by several agencies, including the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, Leicester City Council, the police and fire service, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and immigration enforcement.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Sunday he was "very worried about the employment practices in some factories".

The whistleblower said the falling price paid for products had led to a "substantial" decline in pay rates and working conditions over the past 10 years.

"The way the market is at the minute, it's the person who produces the good cheapest who gets the order," he said.

Image caption
Leicester was put on a local lockdown after Matt Hancock said it accounted for 10% of all positive Covid-19 cases in the country
Lukasz Bemka, from the Bakers and Allied Workers Union, said they shared concerns about pay practices and safety at the factories.

"Some people are not getting their wage slips - just cash in hand," he said.

"There have been issues around providing the appropriate PPE during the pandemic and not carrying out the proper risk assessments."

He said some factories used CCTV cameras to alert factory bosses if the authorities paid a visit.

"In the case of a police raid or agency visit they can quickly get rid of uncomfortable people from the shop floor.

"They can even get rid of the whole workforce within minutes before the authorities hit the shop floor."

An HSE spokeswoman said it was investigating 10 textile businesses in Leicester. The whistleblower is not understood to have been referring to any of the businesses under investigation.

The spokeswoman said: "Since the start of the pandemic in March, we've made 80 workplace interventions with more than 45 site visits. Ten investigations are on-going. Enforcement action has been taken against 10 businesses.

"Following this particular outbreak in Leicester, HSE has engaged with 32 textile businesses and undertaken 30 site visits to assess compliance with health and safety legislation.

"Enforcement action of some kind is being taken at half of these businesses where non-compliance with health and safety requirements, including COVID-19 risk controls, was found."

Wymsey

Wymsey

Posted
Posted

Can't some of these textile factories, those reported to force staff with Covid-19 symptoms to work, temporarily close - to see whether the rate of this virus rapidly decreases in that and surrounding areas of Leicester?

Parafox

Parafox

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, davieG said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-53363102

 

 

Leicester lockdown factories 'almost doubled staff' during Covid-19
10 July 2020

The anonymous whistleblower said some factories had stayed open and taken on extra staff during the lockdown
A whistleblower from Leicester's textile industry says some factories almost doubled their staffing to cope with online orders during the Covid-19 lockdown.

The worker, who cannot be identified, said firms that "maybe used to have 50 people working comfortably, now had 80 or 90 people in the same area".

Investigations are ongoing into employment practices at several firms.

A lockdown was enforced in Leicester after a spike in coronavirus cases.

The worker told the BBC some factories had stayed open and taken on extra staff during the lockdown.

"If somebody did have Covid or wasn't well, they were still there passing it on to whoever's next to them," he said.

"During Covid we've had no social distancing whatsoever in the factories.

"They [factory bosses] were getting a lot of pressure from customers to produce garments as quickly as possible, in as much volume as possible, because people were shopping from home and they needed the goods to be in.

"So the pressure was on these suppliers to hire anybody that was walking around and just get somebody on a machine to make a garment.

"Garments go through, six, seven pairs of hands before they get packed and sealed, so a lot of people are touching the same things."


He said the situation had made already poor conditions worse.

"Very few factories, if any, have cleaners coming in and out," he said.

"I've seen people eating at their tables, then going straight back to work. There's no kitchens in a lot of these places, there's barely toilets, and it's all logged because it's all about productivity rather than humanity."

Concerns about working conditions have prompted investigations by several agencies, including the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, Leicester City Council, the police and fire service, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and immigration enforcement.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Sunday he was "very worried about the employment practices in some factories".

The whistleblower said the falling price paid for products had led to a "substantial" decline in pay rates and working conditions over the past 10 years.

"The way the market is at the minute, it's the person who produces the good cheapest who gets the order," he said.

Image caption
Leicester was put on a local lockdown after Matt Hancock said it accounted for 10% of all positive Covid-19 cases in the country
Lukasz Bemka, from the Bakers and Allied Workers Union, said they shared concerns about pay practices and safety at the factories.

"Some people are not getting their wage slips - just cash in hand," he said.

"There have been issues around providing the appropriate PPE during the pandemic and not carrying out the proper risk assessments."

He said some factories used CCTV cameras to alert factory bosses if the authorities paid a visit.

"In the case of a police raid or agency visit they can quickly get rid of uncomfortable people from the shop floor.

"They can even get rid of the whole workforce within minutes before the authorities hit the shop floor."

An HSE spokeswoman said it was investigating 10 textile businesses in Leicester. The whistleblower is not understood to have been referring to any of the businesses under investigation.

The spokeswoman said: "Since the start of the pandemic in March, we've made 80 workplace interventions with more than 45 site visits. Ten investigations are on-going. Enforcement action has been taken against 10 businesses.

"Following this particular outbreak in Leicester, HSE has engaged with 32 textile businesses and undertaken 30 site visits to assess compliance with health and safety legislation.

"Enforcement action of some kind is being taken at half of these businesses where non-compliance with health and safety requirements, including COVID-19 risk controls, was found."

All we need now to make Leicester a complete replicant of another place, is for one of these factory buildings to collapse trapping and killing those inside.

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