The Manchester based clothing retailer Boohoo is once again under the microscope after an investigation by the Times newspaper revealed workers being kept in shave conditions in one of its warehouses
Workers according to the paper, are forced to walk the equivalent of a half-marathon per shift in a sweltering warehouse in which nighttime temperatures can reach 32C.
Staff fulfilling online orders at the retailer’s warehouse in Burnley label themselves “slaves” and have complained of racism, sexual harassment, gruelling targets, inadequate training and ill-fitting safety equipment.
The harsh conditions,said the report, have led to workers collapsing in the aisles, with an ambulance called to the site once a month on average.
An undercover reporter Tom Ball spent a month working 12-hour night shifts earlier this year.
He wrote;
“It’s 3am when the pain, fatigue and boredom really kicks in. For eight hours I’ve been on my feet, pushing a heavy trolley around a vast warehouse. The minutes pass like decades. Sweat drenches my clothing. I want nothing more than to sit down and rest my aching legs, if only for a few minutes. But I can’t because of the device on my wrist that monitors my every move, forcing me to keep going.“
A Boohoo group spokeswoman said: “Whilst we take these claims very seriously, they are not reflective of the environment at our Burnley warehouse or our colleagues’ experiences working for boohoo”
