Britain’s textile factory workers are being paid less than half the minimum wage, Channel 4’s Dispatches revealed last night.

The factories involved -- whose customers include high street retailers such as River Island, New Look and Boohoo -- have come under fire after Dispatches sent an undercover reporter to find out about working conditions in Britain’s textiles industry.

Employees are being paid as little as £3 an hour for their time. With precarious work on the rise, we need to stand up for Britain’s workers and force high street retailers to start using factories that obey our labour laws.

High street retailers: start working with factories who pay fair wages

The report by Channel 4, which named Fashion Square and United Creations as two of the factories involved in the scandal, has reignited the debate around employment rights and worker exploitation in modern Britain.

There is high demand for quality low-cost clothing in shopping centres across the country. But it should not come at the cost of our employment rights.

If we let companies get away with paying workers £3 an hour in this industry, it could undermine workers across the country -- heralding in a race to the bottom, lowest-bidder-wins economy that would leave everyone worse off.

Last year, when the Guardian launched an investigation into Sports Direct, the company were forced to pay staff over £1 million in back payments after they were found to be paying less than the minimum wage. The campaign worked because they exposed an injustice and, at its heart, Britain is a society that cares about justice.

If enough of us get involved, we can tell these high street chains we don’t want fashion to come at the cost of a decent wage.

Let’s show that we care: fashion doesn’t need to come at the cost of a decent wage

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