Poverty-stricken workers are paid 30 PENCE an hour to make £10 t-shirts – that help fund Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership campaign
Labour leader has previously spoken out against working conditions in Bangladesh and said people should not buy clothes made there
T-SHIRTS sold to raise funds for Jeremy Corbyn's leadership campaign are being made by Bangladeshi workers paid just 30p an hour, it has been reported.
Machinists in Bangladesh work for up to ten hours a day to make the garments, which are then sold for £10 each by the Momentum campaign group.
Corbyn has previously attacked the pay and working conditions faced by clothes labourers in the impoverished country and advised people to think twice about buying products made in the impoverished country.
But Momentum – which backs Corbyn’s leadership campaign – has bought hundreds of the t-shirts to sell in Britain.
One Bangladeshi factory worker Abdul, 35, told : “I feel angry that a politician is using T-shirts created with our back-breaking work to make a statement about workers’ rights when he clearly doesn’t care about our rights at all.”
Momentum has now cancelled its contract for the t-shirts, suggesting it may have been misled by one of its suppliers in relation to labour practices at the factory.
It said it wanted to ensure a zero-tolerance policy on unethical practices anywhere in the supply chain and would be seeking a new supplier with full ethical standards.
The garments were made in factories owned by Gildan – the same Canadian clothing firm that was revealed to have paid factory workers in Nicaragua and Haiti as little as 49p an hour to make the official Team Corbyn t-shirts for his first Labour leadership bid.
Tory MP Stuart Andrew said: “This exposes the hypocrisy of Jeremy Corbyn’s hard-Left supporters.
“It’s no good spouting forth about protecting low-paid workers if your own supporters are effectively employing them.”
The basic salary at the Gildan factory in Baipayl, near Dhaka, is around £63 a month – well below the country’s average wage of £93.
For this, the junior machine operators work 48 hours over six days – equivalent to 30p an hour – but most top this up by working overtime.
Senior sewing machine operators take home 7,600 taka (around £74) each month, or 36p an hour.
Bangladesh’s minimum monthly wage for a garment worker in Bangladesh is 5,300 taka (around £51) – one of the lowest in the world.
After being stitched and packed in Baipayl, the t-shirts are shipped abroad to a company called 3rd Rail, based in Bermondsey, South London, which supplies Momentum.
Jeremy Corbyn’s comments in Parliament during a debate in 2014 show he was aware of problems experienced by factory workers in Bangladesh.
Back then he said: “I have attended meetings with the International Labour Organisation and trade unions from this country, and Bangladesh about the abominable working conditions and safety of buildings.
“We have to think about the cheap clothes we buy on the high streets of this country, and indeed of the US and the rest of Europe, and the appalling working conditions behind all that.”
And he spoke about the “substantial” Bangladeshi community in his Islington North constituency, saying: “I have had close relationships with them and with the wider Bangladesh community for all the time I have been an MP.
“Sadly, many of the very poorest in Bangladesh live in disgraceful and appalling conditions.”
Workers at the factories can earn a living wage but have to do so by meeting targets, such as sewing up to 5,000 garments a day and working two hours overtime a day, six days a week.
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Factory worker Fatema, 35, a junior sewing machine operator who lives in a two-room shack with her two sons, husband and in-laws, said: “The work is very hard and we are not allowed any toilet breaks.
“Often we live on just rice because we have no money.
“I have to sew 3,000 T-shirts a day to get a meaningful bonus and it leaves me exhausted.
“I have pains in my back.
“If my children get sick then I have to sacrifice food to pay their medical bills and all my clothes have holes in them.”
Mail Online reports Momentum buys the shirts for £2.77 each and sells them to countries including Australia and America.
Nazma Akter, a former child factory worker and founder of the 37,000-member workers rights group AWAJ Foundation, says Momentum should carry out better checks on factories it uses.
She said: “This is slave labour and the politician should know this because he is the leader of the Labour Party.
“What conditions does he expect for workers when the T-shirts are so cheap?
“The factory will say it is audited and complies to minimum standards, but the living conditions for these people are terrible, some of the worst in the world.
“They spend their youth working and then voluntarily give up work at 45 because they have no more energy and work to the bone.
“These older workers have made a big contribution to your country because you get cheap goods, but our workers are hungry.
“They become sick.
“They are getting the minimum wage as per legal requirements but they are not getting a living wage.
“They are giving their blood and sweat for these cheap t-shirts.”
A Gildan spokesman did not confirm rates of pay for “competitive reasons” but said staff get free meals and there is an on-site medical clinic.
He said it has implemented a policy of not hiring workers under 18 and said: “Our current rates are significantly higher than the industry minimum wage in Bangladesh,’ he said.
“We have implemented virtually all of the standard Gildan compensation and benefits programs and social compliance practices.
“Our facilities are all equipped with air circulation systems designed to reduce the airborne lint within the facilities and we have systems in place to regularly monitor air quality.
“All employees have access to complimentary personal protection equipment, including ear plugs, lint masks and eye wear.
“Employees are able to take bathroom breaks and water breaks as required.
“The base production targets established are realistic for each employee in the facility and allow the employees to access bonuses for exceeding anticipated production volumes.
“This facility, as with all Gildan facilities and third party contractors, is governed by our code of conduct which includes a clearly defined provision on “Freedom of Association”.
“The employees within our Bangladesh facility have representation on several committees that provide guidance for the operations of the facility.”
A Momentum spokesman said it had cancelled its orders with 3rd Rail, claiming it had been ‘misled’ by the company.
He added: “Momentum is dedicated to championing rights at work both at home and overseas; we want every worker to be in a trade union, and to enjoy the full protections that the International Labour Organisation recommends as minimum standards.
“We will refuse to work with any supplier who does not uphold these standards.”
Corbyn and 3rd Rail have not commented.